Zeitgeist
by Chance Saver
Summary: Stories converge and bizarre happenings abound as a new season opens at the Loonyland amusement park.
1. Openings and Introductions

Disclaimer: The following story and characters contained within are based on The Dungeons and Dragons Cartoon, and are owned and copyrighted by... well, your guess is as good as mine. I do know it is _not_ me, so being an honest, law-abiding citizen means the following story is purely for the entertainment and enjoyment (hopefully) of the reader, and no monetary gain from the writing of this story is planned or expected by the author.  
  
Author's note: Some characters and situations of this story are taken from Amy Rummi's fine D&DC fanfic story "Advent", for which I owe a great deal of thanks, for writing such a rich story to build upon, as well as her indespensible help in proofreading and critiquing. Also thanks go out to Victoria Bishop for the last names she bestowed on them in her fanfic "The Gathering," which are used here. Finally, many thanks to Darkhaven Webmaster Kimmy for her help and input, as well as keeping the Darkhaven home fires burning.  
  
**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter One: Openings and Introductions**  
  
The group of park employees set the last picnic banner of the day. Kevin Reaves looked up and read the banner swaying in the morning breeze. It read, "WELCOME SAINT ANNE EPISCOPAL CHURCH" in big royal blue letters. The brown haired eighteen year old nodded in satisfaction.   
  
"All right, guys. Perfect," Kevin said to his fellow workmates. He then turned to view the rest of the picnic area, which had several sections set up for different gatherings, each with its own set of banners and picnic tables. Some even had balloons and volleyball nets. Kevin whistled a "whew" as he noted how busy the area looked, _and there wasn't anyone here yet_. But then, Kevin knew that it was always busy on opening day. With the sun beaming down from a cloudless sky, Kevin could make out most of the banners from where he was standing. He noted many of the parties were with church groups, and this being Sunday, the place would start packing up after morning services.  
  
Kevin looked at his watch, seeing it was 10:15 AM. "Okay!" Kevin said in a pleased voice to the group of twelve workers that gathered around. "The place looks great! Good job everyone!" Kevin put his hands up in the air to draw everyone's attention. "All right, looks like we're ahead of schedule, so if everybody wants to take a ten-minute break, go right ahead. Just remember, the park's opening in 45 minutes and as you can see..." Kevin spread his arms as to present the area to everyone, "it's going to be super busy today, so just make sure you know where you're supposed to be, okay?"  
  
"Yes, sir! Kevin, sir!" one of the employees said in a mocking tone. The employee was a skinny blonde haired teenager with freckles.  
  
"Knock it off Reggie," Kevin said to the kid with a half grin. "And why aren't you in your uniform?" he asked the blonde-haired teen.  
  
"It makes me itch!" said Reggie. "I'm not wearing the thing a minute longer than I have to."  
  
"All right. Just don't wait 'til the last minute. They want all of us looking presentable," Kevin said, instinctively spread his arms modeling his own uniform as an example. Kevin was wearing a loose fitting long sleeve royal blue dress shirt and dress pant. Also, he wore a bright red vest decorated with colorful pins and designs sewn into the fabric, with his nametag pinned to his left breast pocket. The outfit was completed by an oversized white bowtie decorated with red polka dots. Some of the other workers around Kevin and Reggie were wearing the same thing.  
  
"Presentable..." Reggie guffawed. "I'll look like a dork."  
  
Kevin rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Redge? Want us all to wear black? This is an _amusement park_!"  
  
They both laughed as all the workers walked the same direction towards one of the gates in a large wooden fence. The side of the fence they came from looked like it came from any park in any town, with mowed grass, trees, and picnic tables. They all passed through the gate, and the other side the ground was covered in blacktop. Nearby were a "Tilt-A-Whirl" ride sitting motionless and an ice cream vendor who nodded as the group passed. Down a ways could be seen the "fairway" with it's booths of games of skill and the new Lazer Tag Arena. And passed that could be seen large rides like a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and other spinning rides with names like "The Zipper," "The Octopus," and "The Flying Saucer." And farther down could be made out the attractions of the themed "Fantasy Land." All around, park workers were putting the final touches on the opening day of Loonyland.  
  
It was 40 minutes until the opening of Loonyland.

"It isn't so bad once you get used to it," Kevin said to Reggie as they walked together.  
  
"Oh please," Reggie said. "Like I want to look like Bozo's accountant."  
  
Kevin had to chuckle a bit. "No, really... you get free tickets to the rides and the shows... everybody from school comes to hang out here, especially on opening day."  
  
"You're just high on it because you're used to it. You've worked here... what? This'll be your third summer, right?"  
  
"Yep. Last summer before college."  
  
"Yeah, well, I've been working in my dad's pet store for every summer that I can remember," Reggie said dishearteningly.   
  
Kevin looked at his friend sympathetically. "Maybe things will pick up. Maybe your dad can open the store again."  
  
"No, no..." Reggie said quietly, looking down at his feet. "My dad says he's too old and there's no future in it for a kid like me. He wants me to join the Army. We're... not getting along."  
  
"Oh." Kevin didn't know what to say after that.  
  
"I just took this job because there's nothing else in town. This was the only place hiring, and I need the money."  
  
Kevin and Reggie walked in uncomfortable silence for a minute. Then Reggie looked inquisitively at Kevin. "So, what do they have you doing?" Reggie asked.   
  
"Oh, I was told that Mrs. Kornheiser wants to talk to me."  
  
Reggie nodded. He knew Mrs. Kornheiser was one of the assistant managers, and the offices were near the entrance to the park, near the employee changing rooms. "Ohhh, you are a big shot, huh?"  
  
"Hyuh," Kevin exhaled. "I'm just a gopher with a bigger hole. The real important jobs go to the guys who work year round."  
  
"So... what? You in trouble?" Reggie asked.  
  
"I dunno. Don't think so."  
  
Reggie and Kevin entered the open square which sat just inside the entry gate to Loonyland. In the center of the square was a large fountain shaped like a giant cartoon like statue of a loon that started to spring to life as the teens paused to stand by it. Customers could be seen gathering outside the entrance.   
  
"Well, I'm off to put on my happy suit," Reggie said, nodding his head toward the employee area.   
  
"Yeah, good luck. And smile a lot. They like that."  
  
Reggie rolled his eyes as he started to walk away. Kevin started to walk in the other direction when he suddenly turned back to his friend.  
  
"Hey! Where do they have you working?" Kevin yelled.  
  
Reggie didn't even turn to answer. "The D-n-D!"   
  
"The _what_?" Kevin asked.  
  
Reggie looked over his shoulder to answer as he entered the door to the employee area. "_The... Dungeons...and Dragons... Ride!"_

_  
_  
Sitting in the small office of Mrs. Kornheiser, Kevin glanced at his watch for what seemed like the hundredth time. It was 10:45 AM. Kevin sighed and slumped down in his chair, passing the time looking at the pictures on the wall. Old posters and playbills from summers past dotted the walls. There was a clipping of an old newspaper encased in glass. "Elvis Greets Fans at Fun Fair Amusement Park" read the headline of the clip, and sure enough there was a picture of the King smiling and waving, with the park sign behind him.  
  
Kevin could hear the door begin to open behind him and he immediately straightened up in the chair. In walked Mrs. Norma Kornheiser, a small well-rounded redhead in her late thirties, wearing a simple red summer dress with white polka dots. In her hands was a clipboard, which she dropped unceremoniously on her desk as she sat down.  
  
"Ohhhh, sorry to keep you waiting Kevin," Norma said, trying to sound pleasant, but there was no hiding how tired she was. "There's just so much to get ready."  
  
"I know. That's all right," Kevin said.  
  
"I just took a look at the picnic area. You tell everybody they did a fine job. Everything looks great."  
  
"Thanks, I will," Kevin said smiling, pleased at how this conversation was going. "It looks like we're going to have more people than last year."  
  
"I'm sure," Norma leaned forward a bit in her chair. "This is your third summer with us, right?"  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
"Are you off to college?" Norma asked.  
  
"Yes, ma'am."  
  
"Going up the road?" she asked, referring to the local university.  
  
"No. I think I want to go to school out of state. Go be on my own."  
  
"'Boy from small town in the big city' kind of thing, eh?" Norma asked smiling.  
  
"Something like that," Kevin said.  
  
"Well, you should do fine. You've always done a good job around here, and everybody knows that. You're good with people... that's why I called on you here." Norma said.  
  
"Well, that's what 'public relations' is all about," Kevin said trying to sound enthusiastic, but was a bit anxious about where this was leading.  
  
Norma peered at Kevin more intently. "Apparently, we have a VIP coming to visit the park today."  
  
"Oh, okay," Kevin said, raising his eyebrows.  
  
Norma grabbed her clipboard from her desk and gave it a quick once over. "Right. It's the darnedest thing. It just came up all of a sudden... I'm not sure of all the details here, but apparently this man's people gave us a call this morning to let us know he's coming."  
  
"He has 'people'?" Kevin asked with a mild grin.  
  
Norma's smile matched his. "Oh, of _course_. All the real VIP's have 'people,' Kevin."  
  
"Riiight."  
  
"Anyway, he must be pretty important since the office seems to be in a real stir about it. They called me in and asked me who would be the best man to escort this gentleman into the park, and I immediately thought of you," Norma said, pointing her finger at Kevin.  
  
"Really?" Kevin asked. "I mean, is this 'official'? Maybe someone higher up in the office staff should..."  
  
"No, no, no... Nothing like that," Norma said. "This man is in a wheelchair and not in the best of health... Mr. Leonard just thought one of our staff should be there to meet him. Of course, I'll bet the office is hoping this'll turn into something more 'official' later. They want to make a good first impression."  
  
"Well, I'll do my best, Mrs. Kornheiser," Kevin said, smiling.  
  
"I know you will." Norma ripped a piece of paper off a notepad on her clipboard, and handed it to Kevin. "Here's the man's name and where to meet him. They want you to meet him in the parking lot. I'm sure he'll have one of his 'people' there, too. When he arrives, just lead him through the employee gate to avoid the lines, and after that Mr. Leonard will greet him, I guess. I was told to... extend the highest courtesy." Norma said in a more formal tone. She then glanced at her watch. "Whoa. We're all runnin' late, aren't we? He's due to arrive just as the park opens. You got about ten minutes." Norma then stood up from the desk and started to walk for the door of her office. "I have to run some errands myself, so good luck and have fun."  
  
"Right. Okay, see you later," Kevin said as he got up and followed Norma out of the office with piece of paper in hand.

Kevin had to admit he was curious about the whole situation. By what Mrs. Kornheiser said, she gave the impression that this new visitor was to be treated like visiting royalty. Kevin passed several groups of excited families, ready to enter to enter the main entrance of the park, as he strolled through the exit turnstile out to the parking lot. He pulled the out piece of paper Mrs. Kornheiser had given him out of his vest pocket.  
  
Kevin mumbled to himself, "I guess they really want to schmooze up to you, Mister..." As he looked down at the paper, he looked at the name curiously. It was an oddly spelled name to his eyes.  
  
"Oh, man," Kevin said, picturing himself mispronouncing the man's name when they first meet. "Great first impression," Kevin said dryly.  
  
The parking lot of Loonyland was divided up into several sections; each named after a particular animal. Norma's note said "Monkey Section, Lot A." Kevin made out a picture of a very happy looking red and blue monkey on a sign nearby and walked towards it. Another sign read "Section A--Reserved Parking Only."  
  
"Oh, of _course_," Kevin said, rolling his eyes.  
  
Kevin glanced at his watch... it was 11:00 AM. He heard the voices of the crowd near the gate rise in excitement as the first customers started flooding in like a tide through the turnstiles. He could see groups of young teenagers and preteens speed off as soon as they were in the park; determined to be the first of the season to ride their favorite thrill ride. He heard someone in the distance yell, "No running!" It never worked.  
  
Kevin couldn't help but smile thinking he acted the same way coming on quite a few of the park's openings. Growing up in this area all his life, he had clocked more time on more rides in this park than anyone he knew had; he loved coming here. On most of the days he came to the park, he would spend most of the early afternoon getting his need for thrills out of his system by riding all the rides. Then as the day went on and more of the kids his age started to arrive, he would just hang out at the arcade or play a quick game of touch football in the picnic area with his friends from school.  
  
As Kevin leaned against the "Section A" sign, waiting, he noticed how the newly tarred parking lot looked. As black as charcoal under the near midday sun. It reminded Kevin how many changes the park had gone through since he was a kid. When he took his first trip to the park with his parents when he was six, it only had half of the rides it contained now. The parking lot was small enough that they didn't need guide posts filled with happy looking animals to guide people to their cars. The park celebrated its small town roots, calling itself "Fun Fair" back then. Churches and families used it as a place for gatherings. All the kids used it as a hang out during the summer. For the people of the community, it was their own private place for friendly diversion.  
  
Unfortunately, though the locals grew to like the place, the owners needed more customers. Over the years they built bigger, faster rides. They changed the park's name to Loonyland, complete with Loony, the red and blue suited giant loon mascot. They promoted heavily in nearby cities and towns, with mixed success, bringing in louder, rowdier tourists, which annoyed some of the local townsfolk. Kevin, however, couldn't have been happier with more things to do at the park.   
  
This year was no different. There were a few new attractions in the old section of the park, like the new improved parachute drop, but this year most of the money went into expanding Fantasy Land. They built a Pirate Island play land for the kids too small to get on the big rides, and they put in more props and decoration to push the whole mystical medieval theme they were trying to present. But the biggest new arrival to the park was the "Dungeons and Dragons" ride.  
  
"The D-n-D," Kevin said to himself with a wry smile. Kevin thought it was about time the park put in their own version of a "Tunnel of Love," and with the "Dungeons and Dragons" ride, the park was sparing no expense. The ride led passengers in a coaster car sent down on tracks into the mouth of large dragon and into a long tunnel of a man made hill populated with animated beasts and creatures like ogres and Minotaurs and a dragon breathing real fire! Then as the ride progressed, the tunnel would get darker and darker until it was pitch black. Then, in the grand finale, the tunnel would light up in a brilliant flash and the riders would be taken between the legs of a five-headed dragon spitting fire and steam. Kevin was sure there were going to be quite a few kids that were in for a surprise at the end of that ride!  
  
The feeling of a wet nose sniffing his hand interrupted Kevin's thoughts. As he instinctively snatched his hand away, he backed up to see a large brown shaggy dog panting contently.  
  
"Stay Fred!" a voice said a few feet away. Kevin saw a small girl, maybe nine or ten years old by Kevin's guess, with black hair in a ponytail come running up to them. A blue leash was in her hand.  
  
"Sorry, mister. He got away from me," said the girl, going down on one knee to tie the leash around the dog's collar.  
  
"I'm not surprised. He's bigger than you are!" Kevin joked. It was true; the dog the size of a St. Bernard, though it looked like it was growing a gray beard, and had some features like a Scottish terrier.   
  
"He's okay. He's harmless, right big boy? You big sweeeetheart!" she said while scratching the dog's head. "Can I ask you something, mister?"  
  
"Sure, what do you need?" Kevin answered, glancing at his watch.  
  
"Are dogs allowed in the park where the rides are?" the girl asked hopefully.  
  
"I'm sorry. Only Seeing-Eye dogs are allowed on the park grounds," Kevin said in a sympathetic tone.  
  
"Oh, I kinda thought so. He just likes to follow me wherever I go. Sorry, Fred," she said stroking the dog's back. "I guess you're going to have to stay behind at the picnic."  
  
"You're with one of the groups in the picnic area?" Kevin asked.  
  
"Mm-hmm," she said.  
  
"Oh. Well, have fun!"   
  
"Thank you. This is my first time here! It looks really cool!" she called out buoyantly as she ran off. Kevin couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the girl, being able to visit the park for the first time to see the park through fresh eyes.  
  
As the girl ran out of sight, Kevin noticed a large black four-door sedan slowing down near where he stood. Judging by the look of the shiny black car with its darkly tinted windows, he guessed that his VIP guest had arrived. Kevin straightened up and smoothed out his uniform as the car slowed to a stop. Out of the driver's seat came a tall, well-built blonde haired man in a dark suit and tie. He gave a quick nod to Kevin and went to the back of the car to open the trunk. As Kevin watched with curiosity, the man pulled out of the trunk a folded up wheelchair and what seemed like a small tank, similar to the ones Kevin sees to carry helium for balloons. The man opened the chair and looked to be rigging the tank to it.  
  
"Do you need my help?" Kevin asked.   
  
"Mm-mmm," he hummed as the man shook his head. With the tank fastened to the chair, he wheeled it over to the back door of the passenger side of the sedan. As the blonde haired man opened the door, another man slowly and deliberately stepped out of the car. He was an elderly looking man; his head was bald with only a halo of silver hair behind his ears, which spread to the back of his head. As he stood up to stretch, Kevin noticed he was tall and rather thin. He wore a pair of pressed gray wool slacks, and a simple light blue polo shirt; he had on expensive Italian looking leather shoes and had what looked to Kevin to be a very valuable looking gold watch. Kevin reasoned that whoever this man was, he wasn't hurting for money.  
  
"Good morning!" the old man greeted Kevin boldly as he settled in his wheelchair. Kevin noted the presence of a foreign accent in the man's voice as he reached out his hand.   
  
"Good morning!" Kevin returned with a smile, grasping his hand and noticing how firm the old man's handshake was. The moment of truth came: "Welcome to Loonyland, Mister..." Kevin paused slightly, "Mueller."  
  
The old man smiled knowingly. "Yes... Mueller. Josef Mueller." 


	2. Uncomfortable Conversations

  
  
**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter Two: Uncomfortable Conversations**

****

A man coming out from behind the guest services desk wearing a bright red suit went up to Mr. Mueller as eagerly as a six year old would go to his presents under the tree on Christmas Morning. He reached out his hands to shake Mr. Mueller's hand, grinning from ear to ear.   
  
"Welcome, welcome, welcome to Loonyland, Mr. Mueller!" he greeted enthusiastically.  
  
"Thank you. It is very nice to be here," Mr. Mueller replied in a noticeable German accent; not taken aback by the man's over the top enthusiasm at all. "You are Mr. Leonard?"  
  
"Yes I am!" said the Manager of Park Operations. "I hear you have traveled quite a distance to visit us today! I hope you had a good trip."  
  
"Yes, it was fine. This is my associate Michael Schneider," Mr. Mueller said as he presented the blonde haired man who had pushed Mr. Mueller into the park.   
  
"Good morning," the blonde man said curtly.  
  
"Good morning!" Mr. Leonard replied.  
  
As Mr. Leonard and Mr. Mueller exchanged pleasantries, Kevin stood to the side looking over the new VIP arrival. Mr. Mueller looked to be in his late sixties and had an odd thin look, as if being as thin as he is was unnatural to him. He also looked rather pale. He had a nasal tube under his nose; the tube was hooked up to an air tank that had been rigged to the side of his wheelchair.   
  
Kevin noticed that while Mr. Leonard and Mr. Mueller were talking, Mrs. Kornheiser had come to stand nearby. Kevin looked at her and shrugged his shoulders. She smiled back and shook her head.   
  
"I was wondering Mr. Leonard, why I was taken through a different entrance than the rest of the customers?" Mr. Mueller asked.  
  
"Oh, well... this is opening day, and there is quite a line out there. We thought we could extend our courtesy and help you get an early jump in enjoying our park."  
  
"I appreciate that," said Mr. Mueller as he turned his head to see who was standing near him. His eyes locked on Kevin. "I plan to make full use of my time here, Mr. Leonard. I was wondering if I could have one of your employees help me in that regard."  
  
Mr. Leonard nodded, his enthusiasm apparent, "I'm sure we can have our staff give you any assistance you and your associate need to enjoy your stay..."  
  
"Oh, I am sorry.... Michael is not staying. He will be returning with the car when I plan to leave."  
  
"_What_?" Michael said quietly to himself.  
  
"I was hoping if I could enjoy the company of one of your employees... for instance, you young man!" Mr. Mueller said boldly as he pointed toward Kevin.  
  
"Me?" Kevin asked, taken by surprise.  
  
"Yes, you!" Mr. Mueller said with a wide smile. "How would you like to help an old man enjoy a day at Loonyland?"  
  
"Uhhhh..." Kevin blurted.  
  
"_Mr. Mueller_," Michael Schneider said abruptly, "could I speak with you for a moment?"  
  
"Of course, Michael," Mr. Mueller said. Mr. Mueller and his tall blond associate walked a few paces back. From Kevin's view, he could see that they were having a quiet but intense conversation, trying to keep their voices down so no one else could hear. Michael looked almost like he was pleading with the man in the wheelchair.  
  
"Remember when I said that this guy's 'people' called us?" said a whisper next to Kevin. It was Norma, who had strolled over next to him. "Well, I just found out who called."  
  
"Who?" Kevin asked in a hushed tone.  
  
"The Governor" said Norma.  
  
"_The Governor_?" Kevin said, his eyes opening wide. "Because of this guy? I mean, who is he?"  
  
"A very important businessman, I hear. I suggest that whatever he offers, you take it. It'll probably be worth it," Norma said with a wink.   
  
A look of concern passed over Kevin's face as he peered over to the man in the wheelchair and his associate finishing their conversation. Michael's face looked a bit sad, as if he had received some bad news. Mr. Mueller's face, however, lit up with a smile, and the man looked jolly despite his pale appearance.  
  
"Well, let us get going then, eh?" Mr. Mueller said as he looked at the group of park personnel. "I hope it is not an inconvenience if I take this young man off your hands for a while..."  
  
"Of course not! He does this kind of thing all the time! Kevin enjoys doing this kind of work, don't you Kevin?" Mr. Leonard said. His voice bright and cheery, but his eyes were wide and his smile was forced as he looked at Kevin.  
  
"Oh, sure," Kevin gulped. "No problem."  
  
"Well, that's settled then," Mr. Mueller said, smacking the arms of his wheelchair to drive the point home.  
  
As Michael did some last minute adjustments on Mr. Mueller's oxygen tank, Mr. Leonard not so subtly walked up to Kevin. "Now Kevin... just be polite and give him all the help he needs. And try to push the park... make us look good!" he said in a forced whisper.  
  
Michael stepped back, and Mr. Mueller waved to Kevin impatiently. "Come, I am not getting any younger... _Schnell_!" he barked, though his smile never wavered.  
  
Kevin strode behind Mr. Mueller, grabbing the handles at the back of his wheelchair and started to push. As they got moving, Kevin looked back briefly at Norma, who winked at him. Mr. Leonard gave Kevin an enthusiastic "thumbs-up" sign, which strangely enough Kevin did not find comforting.  
  
It was 11:15 AM, as Kevin Reaves wheeled Josef Mueller into Loonyland.

* * *

For the first few minutes, Mr. Mueller simply pointed which direction he wanted to go. He steered Kevin in the general direction of Loony Lake, the body of water in the middle of the park, which stood as natural barrier separating Loonyland from its younger cousin, Fantasy Land. Kevin noticed Mr. Mueller tended to gaze toward the medieval-themed park.  
  
"So, is there any particular activity your interested..."?  
  
"What did Mr. Leonard mean by, 'Does this kind of thing all the time?'" Mr. Mueller interrupted. "Is this a normal service of the park? Wheelchair service?"  
  
"Well, no... Not officially," Kevin said, "but we sort of have this thing with the old folk's home in town a few times a year. They all get on a bus and come here, and we volunteer to help them around the park if they need it."  
  
"Ah, that's nice," Mr. Mueller said.  
  
"Yeah, I think so," Kevin said, "They can be really nice. Usually they just want some company...a stroll around the lake, watch a few shows, see some fireworks, eat a foot long hot dog...at least the ones that can chew..."  
  
"A...foot long...hot...dog," Mr. Mueller stated in an even tone. He narrowed his eyes and looked straight ahead. "That sounds very good right now..."

* * *

_"From my green floppy hat's eerie magic light,  
Please take care of our big appetite!"  
  
_"_Huh_?" Kevin blurbed in response to Mr. Mueller's sudden rhyme, holding a foot long hot dog in one hand and a small drink in the other.  
  
"Hah! I thought I had forgotten it after all these years! Strange how I would remember it now," Mr. Mueller said to himself, smiling. To Kevin's eyes, Mr. Mueller seemed genuinely surprised of the rhyme he just said, which Kevin found a bit odd.  
  
"Uh, here's your hot dog and Coke, Mr. Mueller," Kevin said as he slowly handed over the food. Kevin had wheeled Mr. Mueller to a table of one of the park's food courts near the Loonyland side of Loony Lake.   
  
"Thank you, Kevin. And please, from now on it's Josef," he said before biting into his foot long. A look of disappointment came to his face. "Hmpf. Twice the size and half the flavor."  
  
"Do you need some more mustard?" Kevin asked.  
  
"No, no," Josef said, shaking his head, "I am just spoiled. I am German...we know our frankfurters."  
  
"Oh, do you live here now? I mean... in America?" Kevin asked. "You speak very good English."  
  
"Thank you. No, I am still a citizen of West Germany, though I have spent these last few years in London."   
  
"Wow. Are you visiting family?"   
  
Josef looked at Kevin curiously. "Why do you ask?"  
  
"Oh, nothing..." Kevin sighed.  
  
"Come now! Out with it, young man... say what's on your mind," Josef demanded playfully before taking another big bite of his foot long.  
  
"It's just that, I was just curious as to why you're here. In Loonyland, I mean."  
  
"Can't an old man simply come to have a good time?" Josef said between bites.  
  
"Well... they told me... do you know the Governor?"  
  
"Ah, I see. I guess I must apologize for that," Josef said after swallowing another bite. "I had to make a few arrangements getting here on such short notice, and I had to call in a few favors. "  
  
"Oh," Kevin said. "Are you meeting someone here?"  
  
That question stopped Josef from chewing his mouthful of hot dog, and he simply stared at the ground in front of him.   
  
"I don't know," Josef said quietly. "Let us just enjoy the day as it comes, eh?"  
  
Kevin, privately scolding himself for prodding the old man with questions, simply nodded. "Okay. Fair enough," Kevin said.  
  
As a few minutes went by, Kevin's hands fidgeted slightly as he sat in silence waiting for Josef to finish his meal; an action that Josef's alert eyes caught onto immediately.  
  
"Are you nervous, son?" Josef asked.  
  
"Who me? No, not at all, Mr. Mueller... I mean Josef... sir..." Kevin stammered.  
  
Josef sighed and let out a quiet chuckle with a hint of a wheeze. "Relax, Kevin. I know it must have surprised you when I asked you to escort me... I could tell by your eyes. There is no need to be nervous. I am simply an old man enjoying a crisp spring day in your park, no matter what else you were led to believe."  
  
"I was told that a Very Important Person was coming to the park, and that we were all supposed to roll out the red carpet. _Extend the highest courtesy."  
  
_"Yes, I see. I believe your manager, Mr. Leonard, was a little too enthusiastic. He did not have to have you escort me to the head of the line like he did. That was a bit unfair to the other customers."  
  
"Yeah," Kevin said with an amused smile, "he can get like that. Anything to spread the good word about the park. We could use all the help we can get. I mean, this isn't exactly Disneyland."  
  
"But you were still surprised when I called you over?"  
  
"Well, I was surprised I guess. But it's okay," Kevin replied.  
  
"To tell you the truth, Kevin, the thought only occurred to me then and there. I just saw you standing there and I thought you might be helpful... I'm a bit surprised myself that I thought of it. Though..." Josef let out a brief giggle, "not as surprised as Michael was, I would wager. He is probably calling the head office right now to ask what to do," Josef said before taking a sip of his Coke. "He was loaned to me to be my 'assistant,' when I landed here from London, but in reality, he was here to keep this old man out of trouble," Josef said, pointing to himself.  
  
"Oh, really?" Kevin asked curiously.  
  
"Mmm-hmm," he hummed as he chewed another bite. "My sons' way of keeping an eye on me, because of my condition. I know they mean well, and I have to admit I'm not in the best condition to travel... well, anywhere..."  
  
Kevin's eyebrows perked up. He wondered to himself if he was qualified to be wheeling around someone in such ill health. What if something went wrong?  
  
"But for the last six months," Josef continued, "I've been picked at, prodded, fawned over, and looked after... well, not for this trip. Not here. Not now. I don't think they would understand." Almost to drive the point home of what a chance he was taking, Josef let out some harsh coughs.  
  
"Are you sure that's okay? I mean, why all the fuss? What's so important about you coming here? If you don't mind me asking," Kevin said.  
  
"I ... I was curious about your 'Loonyland' and I felt I needed... that is, I felt I should be here for opening day. But I don't believe my people would believe that, so to make things easier I had led them to believe that I am here to conduct some very important business."   
  
"But your not," Kevin stated; though it was more of a question.  
  
"Not in the way they think, no," Josef said before finishing off his hot dog. "My days of business dealings are over. To tell you the truth Kevin, I do not have as much business influence as I used to."  
  
"Oh, that's too bad," Kevin said politely.  
  
Josef leaned forward a bit to emphasize what he was saying. "I am telling you this because you asked why I am here. Do you know who Andrew Carnegie is?"  
  
"He's the guy who built Carnegie Hall," Kevin answered.  
  
"A champion of philanthropy during his lifetime. He said 'A man who dies rich, dies disgraced.' I've always taken that statement to heart," Josef said rather boldly. "What do you think, Kevin?"  
  
"I... uh... I guess I would agree with that. The thing is, no one knows when they're going to die," Kevin answered with a shrug.  
  
Josef paused as he wiped his hands with a paper napkin. Then, he stared into Kevin's eyes. "That is the thing, Kevin," he said calmly, "I _do_ know when I'm going to die."

* * *

As they got under way, many uncomfortable minutes passed as Kevin slowly pushed Josef's wheelchair toward the Castle Bridge, which took park goers over a man made moat and through a large gate shaped like a medieval castle, which was the entrance to Fantasy Land.  
  
Kevin didn't know what to say after Josef's last statement. He was guessing that Josef was talking the way he was because of his condition. Every so often, Kevin would hear a sharp inhale, a small cough, or a forced wheeze come out of Josef as he inhaled the spring air. He was obviously dying of some heart or lung ailment, Kevin thought, though his attitude was somewhat jovial for a dying man. Jovial enough to go out of his way to visit an amusement park. _This_ amusement park, of all places. Not Disney World. Not Six Flags. Not Hawaii. Here... Looneyland.  
  
Kevin, for some reason, cast his eyes toward the Dungeons & Dragons ride, sitting prominently in the middle of Fantasy Land. Kevin could see the line for the ride was moving quickly, though it was pretty long. Not surprising, considering it was a brand new attraction and the park had been advertising it's new ride in newspaper and radio ads for weeks. The mystery of a brand new ride usually created a stir. And Kevin, at least, figured it was worth the attention... it was a very well designed ride, at least from a cosmetic point of view. The "hill" the ride was built into to hide the technical inner workings of all the animated creatures in the ride, looked like a natural hill that was built to simulate the look of the mountains which surrounded the park, right down to indigenous shrubs planted on its slopes.   
  
But of course, the real eye grabber of the ride was the massive dragonhead, which served as an entrance to the ride's haunted hill. Kevin stared as the eyes of the dragon lit up as a coaster car with a six-pack of thrill seekers rolled into its fang filled maw. Kevin marveled at how intense the ride's eyes looked as it swallowed each car. Kevin wondered if anyone else had noticed that the eyes looked as if they could burn into anyone who watched. That they almost looked alive! Kevin thought maybe Josef had noticed, since Kevin had caught Josef staring at the ride every once in a while, almost as if he was looking for something in particular.  
  
"...on a Sunday?" Kevin heard, breaking his attention away from the "D-n-D." Josef had asked him a question.  
  
"I'm sorry, Josef. What did you say?"  
  
"I said, why do they have opening day on a Sunday? It does not make very good business sense."  
  
"Well, ..."  
  
"It seems to me," Josef continued, "that it would be much more profitable to open on a Saturday and take advantage of the whole weekend."  
  
"Yeah, there is a reason, though. Or really _was_ a reason, anyway. You see, I'm not sure of all the details, but at one time the neighbors in town didn't like the idea of a lot of rowdy tourists coming in for the weekend for opening day. So they got together and wrote a petition to have the park open _only on_ a Sunday. At least, that's what I heard."  
  
"And the tradition held, eh?" Josef asked.  
  
"Pretty much. I think it's because the people in town like the idea of having this park all to themselves for one day, before summer hits and a bunch of strangers and tourists roll into town. You should see how many groups from town have picnics going today!" Kevin exclaimed.  
  
Kevin wheeled Josef over Castle Bridge and into the castle, which served as a gateway to Fantasy Land. As they did, the surrounding decor changed from hometown fair to long lost Camelot. There were armor-suited mannequins standing to greet visitors as the pair walked into Fantasy Land. Farther in, as Kevin wheeled Josef out of the castle and back into the midday sun, they could see vendors selling magically inspired trinkets. There were statues of wizards and dragons. The rides had such names as "The Viking Ship" and "The Castle Tower." If one could not see Loonyland across Loony Lake, one would think that they were standing in an entirely different amusement park.  
  
"Kevin, how long have you been coming to this park? As a visitor, not just an employee," Josef asked.  
  
"I've been coming here since I was six."  
  
"I would guess it has changed over the years, _ja_?" Josef asked.  
  
"Oh, tell me about it! Like this whole area here," Kevin said, sweeping his hand as to present the park like a game show hostess. "Fantasy Land here has only been around for a couple of years. "  
  
"I see," Josef said quietly, as if in deep thought. "And what about that ride?" Josef asked, pointing toward the large dragonhead still about a hundred yards away.  
  
"The Dungeons and Dragons Ride... that's one of our star attractions this year," Kevin said proudly, remembering the advice to show off the park. "It really pushes the sword and sorcery theme here at Fantasy Land. We're very proud of it."  
  
"Careful Kevin, you are beginning to sound like a salesman."  
  
"Oh, sorry. But, honestly, I think it really is a cool looking ride. You know, like a 'Tunnel of Love.' The kids go in, they get all scared, and they come out a lot closer than when they went in. "  
  
At that very moment, Josef started to chuckle heartily. "Oh, of that I have no doubt!" he barked between laughs. Soon, his laughs turned to coughs, and then he started to wheeze. Josef reached for his oxygen mask and started to breathe in deeply.   
  
"Josef... Mr. Mueller, are you all right?" said a concerned Kevin. "Maybe we should stop... and head back, or..."  
  
"No!" Josef said, his voice muzzled by his oxygen mask. "No, no... I just got... overly excited there... let us stop under some shade over there." Josef pointed toward a nearby tree growing a few dozen yards off Loony Lake.

* * *

"I am sorry, Kevin," Josef said between long controlled breaths. He had taken off his oxygen mask and was now inhaling through his nasal tube.   
  
"Hey, no need to apologize, Mr. Mueller. You can take all the time you want."  
  
"No, no... I mean about what I said back at the food court. I am sorry if what I said made you feel uncomfortable," Josef said in a soft tone.  
  
Kevin's face turned to embarrassment. "Look, I'm the one who should apologize. It's none of my business why you're here."  
  
"I do not blame you for being curious, lad. I do not look to be in the condition of a man who would fly halfway around the world to visit an amusement park," Josef said with a half grin.  
  
Kevin simply nodded.  
  
"Primary Pulmonary Hypertension. That is what they say I have," Josef stated, tapping his chest.  
  
Kevin grimaced at the words. It sounded like something no one would want to have.  
  
"Basically, there is some resistance built up in the blood vessels in my lungs, forcing my heart to work much harder than it was designed to do. I am supposed to avoid as much physical activity as possible... that is why I am this thing," Josef said, tapping the arm of his wheelchair. "I was diagnosed two years ago, and I am afraid my condition has gotten worse over time. I do not believe I have much time left."  
  
Kevin simply listened, feeling unsure of how he was supposed to react. He genuinely felt sorry for the old man, but the tone of Josef's voice did not come off as a man trying to look for sympathy.  
  
"I have signed away all my authority of my business holdings to my sons. I have donated most of my wealth to charities, libraries, universities... I had resigned myself to what the good Lord had intended for me..."   
  
At that moment, Josef leaned forward in his chair slightly, and reached into his back pocket and pulled out what looked to be a carefully folded piece of paper.  
  
"And then, a few days ago," Josef continued, "I received this."  
  
Josef handed Kevin the piece of folded up paper. Kevin stopped to unfold it; it was an advertisement flyer for the park. On the top of the paper read, "COME VISIT LOONYLAND! THE PLACE FOR FOOD, RIDES, AND FAMILY FUN!" in friendly looking red letters, along with a small picture of the mascot Loony.  
  
But, most of the flyer was taken up by a picture of a red dragon opening his mouth wide, as if to swallow up the reader. "COME ENTER THE REALM OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!!!" was written in big, bold, orange letters written in the style that reminded Kevin of posters from 50's monster movies.   
  
"Wow, that's strange," Kevin said quizzically. "I've never seen this flyer before."  
  
"Oh, is that so?" Josef said, with interest.  
  
"Mmm-hmm. I've never seen a picture of a dragon like this one. And... 'Realm?' I've never heard of them referring to the ride as a 'Realm' before."  
  
At that moment, Kevin caught Josef staring at him intensely, as if Kevin said something of great importance. "Who gave this to you? If you don't mind me asking," Kevin said in response.  
  
Josef looked straight ahead, toward the dragonhead on the hill. "I found it among my private mailings at my home in London."  
  
"What?" Kevin said in genuine surprise. "You got this in _England_?"   
  
"Yes."  
  
"Huh. I didn't know we had a budget to advertise worldwide. Was this part of a travel package or something?"  
  
"It was delivered in a plain, white handwritten envelope with no return address, postmarked from this area," Josef said sternly, giving Kevin a sense of the flyer's importance.  
  
Kevin looked down at Josef; a look of confusion crossed his face. "That's it? There was nothing else with it?"  
  
"_Nein_," Josef said.  
  
Quite a few seconds passed. Josef said nothing, leaving Kevin to simply study the flyer in his hands. The eyes of the dragon in the picture on the flyer had the same look of intensity as the eyes on the ride. For some reason Kevin couldn't explain, he found looking at the visage of the dragon to be a bit unsettling.  
  
Finally, Kevin's curiosity finally got the better of him. "So, let me get this right," Kevin spoke up. "You get this flyer in the mail for no reason, and just because of that, you go and fly all the way across the Atlantic Ocean to come _here_?"  
  
Josef looked down; a small, knowing smile crossed his lips, and nodded.   
  
"Oh," Kevin said. He had more questions, but he felt it wasn't his place to ask. Kevin had his hunches, like Josef considered the flyer as some sort of sign for the old man to take one last adventure before he passed on. Like he said before, it was none of his business. His only business was that Mr. Josef Mueller had a good time. "Well, since you came all this way, is there anything you want to do right now? Are you feeling okay?"  
  
"I believe so. Let us move on over there," Josef said, pointing toward the direction of the Dungeons & Dragons ride. "But, please, let's take our time getting there, eh?"  
  
"No problem. Slow going then. Here," Kevin said pleasantly, handing the flyer back to Josef, and stepped behind the wheelchair and grabbed the handles. "Here we go."

* * *

"_Every breath you take  
And every move you make  
Every bond you break,  
Every step you take  
I'll be watching you..."_  
  
"Heh, 'rock n' roll,'" Josef sighed as he heard the new song on a small radio nearby carried by one of the ice cream vendors nearby. "It's a funny thing, Kevin. When I first heard the term, I thought it was going to be some form of transportation."  
  
Kevin chuckled awkwardly. It was a funny observation, though Kevin was a bit thrown off by the tense 'going to be.'  
  
"It is all coming back to me, like remembering some long forgotten dream," Josef said wistfully.   
  
"What would that be Josef? Have you been here before?" Kevin asked, as he slowly pushed Josef toward the direction of the 'D-n-D.'  
  
"No, but they are bringing back some old memories. My personal _zeitgeist_, if you will," Josef explained. "You see, Kevin, many years ago, I experienced... well, for the sake of argument, let's just call it a revelation."  
  
"Oh?" Kevin, genuinely curious about what Josef's motives were.  
  
"Yes. It was during the war... that would be World War II..." Josef turned his head to look up at Kevin.  
  
"I kinda figured that..." Kevin said sheepishly.  
  
"_Ja,"_ Josef grunted and looked straight ahead. "Well, I was in the Luftwaffe fighting over Poland in 1944, and I my aircraft had been badly damaged by Russian..."  
  
"_Luftwaffe_?" Kevin interrupted, "You mean you were a... were the...?"  
  
"On the wrong side of history, Kevin. To my regret, I assure you," answered Josef. "But at the time, when my aircraft was shot from the sky, I had resigned to my fate of dying for the Fatherland. I even remember thinking as I fell from the sky: 'It is over. My time is done.' And then..." for a moment Josef stopped talking; for some reason staring over at the Dungeons & Dragons ride, which was much closer.  
  
"Yeah... and then?" Kevin said excitedly.  
  
"I was saved," said Josef, his voice almost a whisper. "I was shown... a vision... a vision of a new world... and a better world to come."  
  
"Oh," was all Kevin said. Now Kevin was feeling nervous, yet intrigued. He figured Josef was obviously talking about some religious experience he had during the war. Kevin was experienced with people enough to tread softly when talking about these kind of subjects.  
  
"I don't expect you to understand, Kevin, and you can choose to believe what I say or not... truth be told, I had a hard time believing what I had experienced myself. But I was told of a new, promising world to come, and... about this place."  
  
"This place," Kevin repeated. "_This place_? Loonyland?!"  
  
"Not the park, precisely... about _that_," Josef said, pointing toward the large dragonhead.  
  
"About... the... Dungeons & Dragon ride, there?" Kevin asked, genuinely perplexed.  
  
"I... am not sure. It was mentioned only briefly. There was so much to remember, to absorb. You see, after I was told of this place, I was given great knowledge by... mmmm..." Josef stopped, as if he was trying to select the next words he was going to say very carefully.  
  
Kevin almost said, "God" to finish the sentence for him, but decided against it. Kevin thought this conversation was becoming more than he was comfortable with.  
  
"Let us just say that I was given knowledge without the best intentions in mind," Josef said with a light chuckle. "But I had other ideas. Now that I think about it, I think the evil bastard underestimated me."   
  
"Who... the devil?" Kevin asked reflexively. He regretted asking it the moment he said it, again not wanting to bring up any sensitive subjects. Not that Josef wasn't doing fine on his own in that department.  
  
"Hmph. Close enough. He did have horns... well, one horn," Josef said casually. "I was given knowledge about everything about the future. Not just about jet planes, but rock n' roll, and color television. And I did not want to change it! I wanted to see it! And I wanted my new friends, those brave children, to live to see it too!" Josef said excitedly. Then, as before, Josef reached for his oxygen mask and started to breathe deeply.  
  
"Are you all right, Josef?" Kevin asked again nervously.  
  
Josef waved him off as he took the mask off his face. "Yes, I'm fine. I just got a little excited there." Josef then looked and stared into Kevin's eyes. Josef's eyes looked tired. "Again, I am sorry, Kevin. I must sound like some senile old fool."  
  
Kevin simply put his hand on Josef's shoulder and gave him a look of sympathy.  
  
"It's just that... I had forgotten so much... or denied so much... for so long... perhaps for the sake of my sanity. But now, by being here, it has all come back to me, every terrifying, wonderful moment of it. I am sure that this is the right place. That flyer was sent to me as a sign, I know it," Josef said intensely, visibly trying to control his excitement.  
  
"A sign? A sign for what?" Kevin asked.  
  
At that question, Josef's face turned somber. He looked down at the ground. "I think... I pray it is to see the circle completed. I have a short time left on this Earth, Kevin. I know that and accept it. But I have to know... if everyone gets home." 


	3. Beginning Vibrations

Zeitgeist: by Chance  
  
**Chapter 3: Beginning Vibrations  
  
**For the better part of an hour and a half, Josef Mueller and Kevin Reaves enjoyed the sights and sounds of Loonyland; or to be more precise, Fantasy Land. By Josef's request, Kevin cruised around staying in the medieval themed part of the amusement park always staying within a close proximity of the Dungeons and Dragons ride that had so captured Josef's attention. As Kevin slowly wheeled Josef to other nearby sights and attractions, Kevin couldn't help but notice how Josef would occasionally look back at the "DnD". As he would, Kevin would also look back; he had no idea what he was looking for, though he couldn't help but stare at the dragon's eyes for a time longer than he really needed to.  
  
For a while, the conversation during this time had begun to steer to more benign subjects, though sometimes Josef still gave the impression he was talking about someone else's life and not his own. No talk of religious epiphanies or fantastic visions. Just the simple details of their lives. Kevin learned Josef had indeed built a very profitable company designing and perfecting products for commercial aircraft.  
  
The old man talked about how he had to start from nothing after the end of the war, but was emboldened at the fact of helping rebuild a bright future for his war torn country. He spoke proudly of the love he had for his two sons, and one could sense the underlying disappointment in his voice as he talked of the divorce with their mother. "I had such a view of the future, that perhaps I didn't pay enough attention to the people close to me in the present," Josef said.  
  
Kevin also told Josef about his details. He told Josef the humdrum existence of growing up in a relatively small town, his typical teenage awkwardness with girls, what subjects in school he was good and not so good in... all of this came dribbling out of him with relative ease. Perhaps the way Josef was so open and yet so detached about describing his own predicaments that Kevin felt more open to conversation. It helped that the conversational topics were somewhat normal.  
  
It didn't last.  
  
While watching a pair of jugglers dressed in medieval costumes tossing throwing pins at each other, Kevin mentioned how when he went to school, he was somewhat interested in a business degree. He even joked how Josef could give him some advice...  
  
"After all, you seem to have done well in that department," Kevin boasted.  
  
"Ah, well, I have been somewhat lucky..." Josef started to say, then stopped in mid sentence and looked down; his complexion seemed to drop as if a thought crossed his mind. "Actually, it was more than luck," Josef said more solemnly. "I did not... earn my success, Kevin."  
  
"Really," Kevin said, somewhat distracted by the show put on by the jugglers. "Who else earned it then?"  
  
"Lieutenant Stanley Baker of the United States Navy," Josef said.  
  
Kevin turned from the jugglers back to Josef with a strange look on his face; the answer Josef told him giving him pause. "_Who?_ Who is Stanley Baker?"  
  
"He is a Navy flyer... quite skilled at it as a matter of fact, and... heheh! I should know!" Josef bellowed. He then left out one hefty laugh until he stopped and breathed in heavily from his nasal tube.  
  
"Oh, really?" Kevin asked, his confusion unabated. "Is he a business partner or something?"  
  
"Yes, and no... I guess you would call him a... a... silent partner," Josef said with a laugh. Again, Josef wheezed slightly as he tried to fight back a laugh. Meanwhile, Kevin continued to be perplexed as he looked down at the old man, wondering what he was saying that was so blasted funny.  
  
"And... this guy helped you make your fortune?"  
  
"Oh, yes."  
  
"Sounds like a nice guy," Kevin said, turning back to the jugglers.  
  
After a short pause, Josef lowered his eyes. "Never met him," Josef said in a soft, sad voice.  
  
Kevin turned back to Josef. "Never met him? But you just said..."  
  
"Do you think about the concept of time at all, Kevin?" Josef asked abruptly.  
  
"I... I guess so. I don't know... what do you mean?" Kevin stuttered.  
  
"About history... about how it ebbs and flows as it moves along..."  
  
Kevin again felt that strange feeling in his stomach as he sensed Josef was about to talk about something weird again. "Well, I do pretty well in history at school," he said meekly.  
  
"It is one thing to read it out of a book, Kevin. It is another to see it... to live it."  
  
"Well, I'm sure it is."  
  
"There was always one question that bothered me: 'If you could go back in time and kill Adolf Hitler, would you do it?'" Josef stated.  
  
Kevin was so put back by this statement that he didn't respond. He thought he should say something, but the words didn't come.  
  
"It has always bothered me because people assume that Hitler created the monster that Germany became. But the truth is, he only gave a voice to the monster that was already there. If it wasn't him, it very well could have well been someone else.."  
  
Again, Kevin just stood in silence.  
  
"And what then, Kevin? What if Germany produced a leader that wouldn't attack Russia? That would create the atomic bomb? Where would the world be then?" Josef asked intensely. Kevin, taken aback by Josef's energy, simply shrugged his shoulders.  
  
"How fragile is a man's destiny, Kevin? Who can say what guides a person to make one decision over another? I have lived through so much... to know how little it takes to change a person's life. And that person can affect another, and so on... Do you understand where it could lead?"  
  
Judging by the tone of his voice, Kevin reasoned that it sounded like Josef was crying out some sort of confession of some sort, but the teenager had no idea what crime he was confessing about.  
  
"I... I have not tried to change history, Kevin. I told myself long ago it would be dangerous to do so. But I have taken advantage of history, here and there. I sometimes wonder if I should have done more, but I was afraid. Afraid of changing the world I saw in my head. But now, being here in this place, how can I not? When, if not now, now that my time is running out?"  
  
Kevin, not sure what to say about this tangent in the conversation, just stared at his feet. What was Josef trying to explain? Regrets? Lost opportunities? Time travel? Kevin's mind tried to sort out what Josef was talking about, with little success.  
  
"Did you hear what I just said? 'My time is running out?'" Josef asked with a laugh. "How ironic is that?"

* * *

Each time Kevin and Reggie saw each other, Reggie comically pointed to his mouth and flashed the most insincere smile he could muster. Kevin just laughed and shook his head as Reggie did so again as they moved near the ride.  
  
"Is he a friend of yours?" Josef asked.  
  
"Yeah. He's a friend of mine from school," answered Kevin as he gave a wave to his friend. Kevin had wheeled Josef next to the entrance of the Dungeons & Dragons ride, next to a guardrail separating onlookers from people standing in line. Kevin was looking at Reggie as he ushered people onto a platform build like the wall of a medieval castle, where they would wait until a coaster car came by to pick them up... usually six people at a time. Then, off they would go, into the mouth of the dragon.  
  
Kevin again glanced at the large dragonhead. Again, for reasons Kevin couldn't explain, the visage of the dragon disturbed him. Kevin wondered to himself if Josef's quirks were somehow getting to him.  
  
He looked down at Josef, who had asked Kevin to stop here, and was now surveying the scene. Kevin simply did not know what to think of the whole situation. He thought Josef was a nice enough man, but was somehow having some sort of delusion. Or perhaps being at this stage of his life, Josef was having flashbacks of some long forgotten memory. Whatever the reason, Kevin figured it wasn't his place to judge, but only to be there for the old man while he was a guest of Loonyland. Still, many minutes passed as they saw the line move quickly. Kevin made several subtle suggestions of where to go next, like the nearby stage, where some jugglers were set to perform, or over to the souvenir stands. Josef politely brushed Kevin off. Even Reggie looked over to Kevin, signaling as if to ask if there was a problem. Kevin simply shook his head, signaling everything was fine.  
  
"It seems to be a very popular ride," Josef said.  
  
"Yeah, that's no surprise. It's a new attraction," Kevin responded.  
  
"It does present itself well with the surroundings, does it not?" Josef asked.  
  
Kevin nodded. "Oh, definitely. It really does go with the theme of the park... Fantasy Land, I mean."  
  
"Ah, perhaps it is the park that fits the theme of the ride, instead," Josef said as he turned to look at Kevin, giving the teenager an inquisitive look.  
  
Kevin flashed a half grin. "That can't be right. The ride just opened today."  
  
"I'll explain on the way. I believe I need to use the restroom," stated Josef as he slapped the arms of his wheelchair like a cowboy spurring a horse. "If you would be so kind, Kevin..."  
  
"Oh, sure. No problem."  
  
As Kevin started wheeling Josef toward the brick structure that housed the restrooms, Josef pointed toward the direction of Loony Lake.  
  
"What do you see across the lake, Kevin?" Josef asked.  
  
"Uh, why? Do you see something?" responded Kevin.  
  
"That is Loonyland," Josef stated. He then spread his arms like he was presenting the area. "And so what is this?"  
  
Kevin awkwardly, almost comically, turned his head right and left, trying to look for anything unusual. Finding none, Kevin shrugged and simply stated, "This is the Fantasy Land part of Loonyland."  
  
Josef turned his head to look up at Kevin's face behind him and pointed a finger at him. "Exactly!" Josef said with gusto, he then turned back to stare straight ahead again, while he spoke. "One amusement park with two themes. A dreadful mistake."  
  
"Welllll..." droned Kevin, revealing his instinct to stick up for his favorite hangout spot. "I think people might like some variety..."  
  
"Nonsense," Josef interrupted, his hand gesturing as if to shoo away a fly. "When trying to sell you're product, whether it be jet engines, or amusement parks, or... or... foot long frankfurters, you always stay focused on one theme to sell your product. Otherwise, you just confuse the customer."  
  
"I guess so."  
  
"Believe me, Kevin. I know a good deal about such things. Of course, what I have just said could be said by any first-year business student. So, considering that, why would they build an entirely different theme park in this area, eh?"  
  
"I... uh... don't" Kevin mumbled, his face showing his confusion.  
  
"Perhaps there is some other force at work, _ja_? Some other invisible hand forming the area to look like this?" stated Josef, almost sounding satisfied with himself. "Yes, I can believe that."  
  
"To look like what?" Kevin asked as he again turned his head from side to side looking for something out of the ordinary.  
  
"Like a land of dragons, wizards... magic! A world trying to manifest an image of itself," Josef stated, as scanned the area, turning his head from side to side. "_Ja_, I can see it. This whole park is a sign... a beacon, or perhaps a warning... I am not sure. And it is all tied to _that_." Josef gestured to the Dungeons and Dragons ride behind them.  
  
Instinctively, Kevin looked back at the ride. He saw Reggie ushering people up the ramp as the line moved briskly. Kevin then looked at the dragonhead for a moment. Again, the eyes lit up as a coaster car slid into its mouth. Again, to Kevin, the eyes looked so intense. Kevin could almost picture the eyelids flickering to life.  
  
"Kevin? Are you alright?" Josef asked.  
  
"_Huh?"_ Kevin said vacantly. He shook his head as he finally caught himself daydreaming.  
  
"We stopped moving. Is there something wrong?"  
  
"Oh. Oh, no, Mr. Mueller," Kevin stammered, "I... I was just thinking about what you were saying."  
  
"Really?" Josef said curiously. "And what do you think?"  
  
A few moments ticked by as Kevin finally wheeled up to the structure that housed the restrooms. As he did, Josef motioned to Kevin to stop the chair and park it next to the door as he started to uncouple himself from his oxygen tube.  
  
"I wouldn't be surprised if this place held some magic," Kevin said good-naturedly.  
  
"Yes, I believe you do," Josef said softly. "I think I can take it from here."  
  
With Kevin's help, Josef rose out of his wheelchair and proceeded to walk into the men's room alone, leaving Kevin outside leaning against a wall. He stuck his hands in his pockets and grumbled, trying to make sense of what Josef was talking about. Again, Kevin thought Josef was having wild thoughts because of his age and his condition. And yet... he seemed so direct, so sure about things. And what he talked about made some sort of weird sense to Kevin, even though he couldn't say why. "What is it he's not telling me?" Kevin asked himself quietly.  
  
All of a sudden, Kevin noticed Reggie briskly walking towards him. They nodded at each other without saying a word as Reggie trotted past Kevin and into the men's room. After about a minute, Reggie strolled out and walked over to Kevin and leaned against the same wall.  
  
"_Now_ I can smile! Man, my back teeth were floating. I think I pierced the porcelain," Reggie said jokingly.  
  
Kevin chuckled. "Yeah. I've been there. So, is everything going okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I got Tommy covering for me for a couple minutes. I needed to stretch my legs a bit," answered Reggie.  
  
"See? It's not as bad as you thought, is it?"  
  
"Nah. Piece of cake. The younger kids can be really annoying, though. Man, were we that whiny when we were that little?" Reggie asked.  
  
"Probably," Kevin answered with a smile.  
  
"So, what's up with you? What's with you and the old man?" Reggie asked.  
  
"His name's Josef Mueller. He's some VIP that Mr. Leonard wanted me to take around the park and show him a good time," Kevin said flatly.  
  
"Really? I didn't know this place did that."  
  
Kevin shook his head. "We don't. Mr. Mueller is... special."  
  
"Oh. So, that was the important deal they called you to the office for, huh?" Reggie said in a slight sarcastic tone. "So, how is it going so far?"  
  
"Fine, I guess. He's pretty nice, but he's... a little weird too," Kevin exclaimed.  
  
"Whoa, really?" Reggie blurted. He then took a quick glance and Josef's wheelchair and all its extra equipment. "Man, look at the gear he has there."  
  
"Oh, he needs it, too. He's had trouble breathing a few times already, and I've only been with him... what? A couple of hours or so?" Kevin leaned forward like he was telling Reggie a secret. "He even told me himself that he was dying. I mean, he just comes out and says it just like that!"  
  
"Jeez. Why the hell is he hangin' out at a damn amusement park if he's so sick? And why is he hangin' around my ride?" Reggie asked.  
  
"He said... he said..." stuttered Kevin as he tried to replay Josef's statements in his head. "I think he's having flashbacks or something. He's talking about some lost kids and one horned devils and rules for advertising and..."  
  
"_What?!"_ Reggie barked.  
  
"Yeah... I'm serious. And it's like he's waiting for something... I don't know..." Kevin looked down at the ground and kicked the dirt.  
  
"Damn, man. Sounds just like how my grandmother was before she died. She was in her own little world at the end," Reggie said, twirling his finger at his temple.  
  
"No, that's not it," Kevin said firmly. "I mean, he's dying, but he's so upbeat. And he's talking all this weird stuff like he's senile, but the way he says it... it's like he's remembering things more clearly, instead." Kevin turned to see Reggie looking at him doubtingly. Seeing this, Kevin let out a heavy sigh. "I guess you just had to be there."  
  
"Whatever, man. I better get back to my post. See ya later."  
  
"Hey, Reggie!" Kevin yelled at his friend as he trotted away. "About the Dungeons and Dragons ride..."  
  
"Yeah?" Reggie answered back. "What about it?"  
  
"Have you noticed anything... weird about it?" Kevin asked loudly.  
  
"Like what?"  
  
Kevin shook his head in thought. "Like something out of the ordinary? Something that spooked you about it, but... you didn't know why?"  
  
"What... in the world... are you _talking_ about?" snapped a clueless Reggie.  
  
For a few moments, Kevin just stood there, trying to put into words the disturbing inklings about the ride that he was feeling, but gave up when he saw an indifferent Reggie staring back at him. Dispirited, Kevin just cast his eyes down.  
  
"Oh... never mind," Kevin said as he waved Reggie off. "Just forget I asked."  
  
Reggie flashed an exasperated look. "Y'know Kevin," Reggie said, "you just hang around this park too much! You keep up like this, they'll make _you_ the park mascot! Stick you right in that Loony suit." He turned to walk back to his post.  
  
"Yeah, right. Hey, Reggie..." Kevin yelled. "You look like a dork." 

Reggie and Kevin shared mocking grins as Reggie hustled back to the Dungeons and Dragons ride. For a few moments, as he stood there alone, Kevin wondered why he was feeling so... unsettled. He always had a natural affinity to the amusement park. Somehow, in a way he couldn't really explain, he responded to its rhythms. The rides, the midway games, the performers... For some reason, Kevin felt like he belonged in the fair-like surroundings of Loonyland. But, right now, those feelings seemed off kilter somehow. Kevin just shook his head, trying to get these weird thoughts out of his brain.  
  
Just then, Josef walked out of the entryway to the men's room. Josef smiled at Kevin appreciatively as the teenager helped the old man sit back into his wheelchair.  
  
"Much better," Josef said with a smile. "Usually, my feet are very swollen by this time, but today it doesn't seem so bad."  
  
"Oh, that's good," Kevin said as he positioned himself behind the chair to push it. "Well, where to next?"  
  
"Over there, please," Josef said pointing to a nearby drinking fountain. "I'm quite thirsty." Kevin slowly wheeled Josef over to the drinking fountain, and with a little help, Josef leaned out of his chair for a drink. When Josef was done, Kevin started a long sip from the fountain also.  
  
"I heard you, you know," Josef said, almost accusingly, as he looked into Kevin's eyes. "When your friend was going back to work. I heard what you asked him."  
  
Kevin stopped drinking and stood there looking at Josef, feeling like he had just been caught doing something wrong, though he wasn't sure why. His lips moved, but nothing came out.  
  
"You _know_ something, don't you? You know something about that ride," Josef said. Again, his voice was a bit more curt than usual.  
  
"I... no... no, honest," Kevin sputtered. Kevin's mind raced. What could he say? He had no idea how to describe the strange feelings he was experiencing. He didn't know what was going on. More likely, he had a hunch Josef was holding something back, as well.

"In fact," Kevin said more forcefully, "I think you know more about that ride than I do, and you're not telling me. Maybe you can tell me why I'm getting these strange vibes."  
  
"Ah, so I wasn't imagining things! You were feeling...." Suddenly, Josef 's eyes went wide and his mouth hung open. It seemed to Kevin that his face became even paler. A look of almost utter shock came across Josef's face, as he seemed to be glancing at something standing behind Kevin.  
  
Kevin followed Josef's glance and turned around to see someone drinking from the fountain. It was a very fit, attractive black teenage girl with wavy hair, wearing black jeans and a light orange shirt. She was also sporting a red headband.  
  
"Hey! Hi, Kevin!" the girl said with her voice plumb full of cheeriness.  
  
"Oh," Kevin replied in recognition. "Hi Diana."


	4. Crossover

**Zeitgiest**

**Chapter 3-Crossover**

Kevin smiled instinctively as he greeted his high school classmate and found that his mood had instantly brightened. Of course, this particular classmate, Diana Beckett, usually had that effect on people. She was well known and well liked not only for her seemingly boundless energy, but her pleasant demeanor as well, and people responded to it. At this moment, Kevin was no exception.  
  
"Wow! So, you're working here another summer, huh?" asked Diana cheerfully as she gestured at Kevin's uniform.  
  
"Oh, yeah. It looks that way, huh?" Kevin said as he grabbed his red vest. "I guess I never get tired of being a fashion victim."  
  
"Hey, at least you get to work in a place you like! It must really be fun working here," Diana said without a hint of sarcasm Kevin usually received when someone talked about his job.  
  
"It has its moments. I just like the hustle and bustle of it all... y'know? The screams everybody makes on the rides, the smell of cotton candy, all the families running around smiling... having a good time... I guess it just rubs off on me."  
  
"It sounds great!" Diana said sincerely, again her face glowed with a smile. Diana's face, Kevin recognized, had all the pleasant features of natural beauty. Wide, warm eyes, a bright inviting smile, flowing wavy hair that reached down to her shoulders, and flawless ebony skin.  
  
"Plus, I like working outside so I can enjoy the sun," Kevin relayed.  
  
"I wouldn't mind that... I'm a day person myself, no matter how hard my father tries to tell me otherwise," Diana tilted her head to the side in mock embarrassment.  
  
"Oh, he just wants to share that big telescope of his. I mean, I would too, if it took up half of my back yard," Kevin joked.  
  
Diana chuckled merrily as she shook her head. "Oh, it's not that big! And I love to share time star gazing with my dad, but I'm usually pretty busy during the summer."  
  
"Yeah, well with any luck, I'm sure you're going to be busy next summer too!" Kevin stated, then started humming "The Star-Spangled Banner."  
  
Diana's eyes peered down to the ground in a humble gesture, though her smile grew slightly bigger. "Aw, that's nice of you to say Kevin, thanks. I'll try my best."  
  
"Yeah," Kevin said, then for a few seconds, nothing. Talking to girls was never one of Kevin's strong suits, though at least Kevin was an honest enough young man to admit it. It didn't help matters if the girl was pretty, and Diana most certainly qualified."  
  
Ahem. Sooo..." Diana prodded as she glanced behind Kevin, "I'm sorry if I interrupted something..."  
  
A flash of realization made Kevin jump like he was slapped in the back. "Oh! Sorry... where are my manners! Diana, this is...." Kevin froze and his eyes went wide as he glimpsed the expression on the old man before him. "_Josef?"_ Kevin asked in a stunned voice, which was hardly more than a whisper.  
  
Josef's face was one of absolute shock and desperation, like the face of a man watching helplessly as a plane crashed to the ground. His face was even paler than before, and his lips quivered frantically. Instinctively, Kevin leaned over to look closer at Josef's complexion, and as he did, Josef seemed to gain his senses slightly; he swallowed hard and straightened his posture in his chair.  
  
Kevin put his hand on Josef's shoulder. "Are you alri..."  
  
"Hey, Diana! Hurry up, will you?" The voice came from about fifteen yards away from another teenager, this time a teenage boy with short straight black hair and a slightly gaunt face, wearing a red shirt with a light tan sweater vest. His features looked frustrated, as he shifted on his feet impatiently. "Stop talking with the help and let's go before we lose them."  
  
"E-ric!" said someone behind him in a chastising tone. The person behind him was a rather skinny teen wearing a green shirt, with spectacles threatening to fall off his awkwardly jolly looking face. "It's just Kevin."  
  
"I know, _Presto_" said Eric with a smirking grin. "Hey, Kevin. _Nice_ outfit," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.  
  
"Yeah, so I've been told," Kevin replied, not really listening to the conversation, but more concerned with Josef, who had partially got a handle on himself, but still had a look of desperation on his face, as if he wanted to scream out loud, but something was holding him back.  
  
"You are with others?" Josef finally said to Diana, with an intensity Kevin found a bit surprising.  
  
"Hmm? Oh, no... I mean yes," answered Diana to the old man. "Yes we are, we're... we're chaperoning!" Diana then flashed a smirking grin like she had just said something funny. Again, Kevin was wondering why everyone around him was saying stuff they thought was so funny, and he wasn't getting it. "Well, I have to get going. See ya around Kev. Nice meeting you, sir," she said pleasantly as she began to walk away, along with her two companions.  
  
"Likewise," said Josef in a soft tone. "You are so very beautiful." The way Josef said it in a way, Kevin judged, like he almost might break out into tears at any moment. Even Diana seemed to be taken aback a bit by the intensity of his statement as she stopped and glanced back at Joseph; her eyes flickered a slight look of concern, though her bright and welcoming smile never wavered.  
  
"Oh. Well, thank you, sir. That is very nice of you to say," she said, looking genuinely touched.  
  
"They've stopped to buy cotton candy!" said Eric intensely through gritted teeth as he quickly glanced back and forth from Diana and someone else down the ways into the park. "Let's catch up with them now!"  
  
Diana led the way quickly, yet for some reason, cautiously away toward another section of the park nearby, followed by Eric, and finally, somewhat apprehensively, "Presto". As they trotted away, Kevin saw Josef make a large exhale, as if for the last few minutes, he had been holding his breath. Josef then closed his eyes and grimaced as if he had suffered some great loss. Kevin, dumbfounded, moved to stand close in front of Josef, in a sign of confrontation.  
  
"Just what was _that_ all about!" Kevin asked with a tinge of confusion in his voice.  
  
For a few uncomfortable seconds, Josef simply did nothing but take deep, sharp breaths from his nasal tube. Then, opening his eyes which were filled with tears, Josef looked up at Kevin with such an expression of sadness and loss, any anger that Kevin felt at this moment just slipped away.  
  
"Help me, Kevin," Josef sobbed. "I don't know what to do. I don't know why I'm here. Please help me."  
  
Kevin crouched down to be at eye level with the wheelchair bound Josef and put his hand on the old man's shoulder. "Please don't cry Josef. Just tell me what you need. What's wrong?"  
  
"That was what changed my mind in the end, the look of disappointment she gave me... those beautiful eyes..." Josef uttered. "How can I risk not seeing them again? But then what will happen to me? To my boys?"  
  
"Who? Who are you talking about?" Kevin said impatiently.  
  
At that moment, Josef composed himself and looked into Kevin's eyes with steely determination. "Kevin, listen to me very carefully," Josef said hoarsely, like speaking took great effort. "That ride... that Dungeons and Dragons ride... it is a gateway to another world. A world that I've been to!"  
  
Kevin was too concerned about Josef's condition to think about the logic behind Josef's words. "I think we better head back Josef. You don't look..."  
  
"No! Were you not listening? I must be here for a reason! Something is going to happen here that I need to be here for!" Josef fired back.  
  
"Like what? You're telling me that ride... that ride..." At that moment, Kevin instinctively looked back at the Dungeons & Dragons ride, and again felt disoriented as the eyes of the ride's dragon head flickered to life. For a few seconds, all of Josef and his concerns about his health were forgotten. The only thing that was on his mind were the burning look of the dragon head... it's eyes erupting to life, it's mouth inviting travelers in.  
  
"You!" Kevin heard Josef bark in a loud voice, knocking him out of his trance.  
  
"Me?" Kevin asked as he wiped the sweat which had suddenly appeared on his brow.  
  
"You... can feel it, can't you?" Josef asked. "You're the reason why I'm here! You are somehow tied to all this! I wasn't meant for _them_, I was meant for _you_!"  
  
"What is that supposed to mean?" Kevin asks with a hint of frustration.  
  
"I was meant to be here, Kevin. And you were meant to be here, too," Josef said, his voice, although still strained, seemed more sure now. "For good or ill, all the actors are in their places. Now we have to wait for the curtain to go up."

* * *

People knew one thing about Mr. Leonard, and that was his continuously pleasant attitude was not an act. He was genuinely a nice man to be around, and was generally considered as a man with the perfect attitude and temperament to run an amusement park. However, it also meant that when Mr. Leonard was in a foul or concerned mood, his change in attitude stuck out in his expression like a red wine stain on a clean white sheet. That's why Norma knew something was wrong when she saw Mr. Leonard marching toward her.  
  
"What's wrong, Doug?" Norma asked.  
  
"Norma, do you know if Kevin and that Mueller guy are still in the park?" Mr. Leonard asked in a slightly desperate tone.  
  
"Well, Kevin would tell me if he was done giving Mr. Mueller his 'tour', so I guess they're still out there. Why?"  
  
"Why?" Mr. Leonard repeated. "Because I just got off the phone with Mr. Mueller's son saying that he's under a doctor's supervision and isn't even supposed to be out of _bed_, much less rolling around an amusement park!"  
  
"Really?" Norma said, genuinely surprised.  
  
Mr. Leonard nodded. "Seems Mr. Mueller's been a bad boy... he slipped away from his doctors overseas and came here. His son Otto just found out because that assistant of his gave a call back to his office when Mueller left him at the gate."  
  
"How can an old man just sneak away and fly halfway across the _world_?" Norma asked bewildered.  
  
"Because he's rich, Norma! They can do that stuff! This was all a spur of the moment thing. His son is just as perplexed as everyone else about it," Mr. Leonard barked, throwing his hands in the air. "Look, Mr. Mueller's assistant is bringing a doctor from town just in case. Grab Nurse Janet and call security to have Kevin _persuade_ Mr. Mueller to cut his tour short. I just hope Kevin's treated him okay."  
  
"Now, don't give Kevin a hard time!" Norma said sharply, like she sometimes had to do, being a loyal but no nonsense manager. "You gave him the okay to have him take that sick man into the park alone. Heck, you practically threw Kevin at him..."  
  
"I know, I _know_..." Mr. Leonard said despairingly, rubbing his face w ith his hands. " I should have my head examined. I just thought Mr. Mueller was _old_ sick, not _sick_ sick. Look, just get on the horn and locate him, huh? He shouldn't be too hard to find with that scuba gear he's got strapped to his chair."  
  
"All right," Norma said. As she turned to walk away, she noticed Mr. Leonard was still very nervous looking. "Hey, would you relax?" Norma said assuredly, "Kevin's a responsible kid; everything should be fine. I mean, how much excitement could they really get into anyway?"

* * *

One of the things Chris Blackburn had a knack for which made him good at his job was that he could spot the troublemakers. Troublemakers, the security guard observed, had a certain look about them. They had a walk, a look, a posture that alerted the world2 they wanted to make trouble; the need to unleash their bitterness to the world, whether it be starting a shoving match in the arcade, or throwing crude and unwarranted sexual innuendos at strangers of the opposite sex. Of course, a family oriented amusement park isn't exactly a major hang out for most trouble makers, but Chris knew, with experience, that it just made the ones that did start trouble here more irritating. He could spot them a mile away.  
  
And he saw one now. A tall well-built teenager with reddish brown hair wearing a Baltimore Colts T-shirt had caught Chris's eye. He had the look, no doubt about it. The boy looked irritated. What was irritating him on this perfect spring day Chris didn't much know or care, but just by the way the boy prowled, Chris immediately kept his eye on him as he casually stood watch near the souvenir stands of Fantasy Land.  
  
His walkie-talkie beeped and he grabbed it from his belt to respond.  
  
"Security. 12. Blackburn," he said curtly.  
  
"Yes, we need to locate an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair right away. He's Caucasian approximately 65 years old named Josef Mueller. His wheelchair is said to be loaded with some breathing apparatus..." said the operator at the other end of the line. "He's being accompanied by an employee Kevin Reaves. Told it's important to escort this man back to the home office right away. This man's health may be in question, so use caution."  
  
"Understood," Chris answered back, and then scanned his area.  
  
"12. Chris? This is Norma," said a different scratchy voice from his talkie.  
  
Chris kept scanning the park for any sign of the man. "Yeah, Norma. What's up?" he answered back.  
  
"Chris, you know Kevin Reaves?" Norma asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Um. Just to let you know that no one's in trouble here. We need to bring this Josef Mueller back here because we have been told that he needs medical supervision. Take it easy on them."  
  
"Heh. Kid gloves... understood," Chris answered back. Chris started to walk out among the fairgoers to get a better look; looking for an elderly gentleman in a very bulky wheelchair. Just then, he heard the raised voices of a commotion. Chris nearly smiled to himself when he saw who was causing it.  
  
The same kid he had his eye on, Mr. Baltimore Colt, was now bullying another skinnier kid wearing a green shirt and glasses; holding him by the neck, and threatening to hit him. Right next to them, trying to grab the bully away was an attractive black teenage girl, but Mr. Colt shrugged her off. "It's always about a girl," Chris sighed to himself.  
  
"12. Report disturbance at Souvenir D. Request assistance," Chris calmly reported into his talkie. Then, he started to briskly stride toward the disturbance at the far end of the row of souvenir stands.  
  
As he walked toward them, the drama played out better than Chris had hoped. Just as the bully lifted the skinny teen with glasses off the ground, the teen's friend, another teen with short black hair stepped in between them, with a look on his face like he was surprised he did so. Just then, another teen came running up, along with a pretty, fair skinned red head of roughly the same age, and a small child with sandy blond hair. This teen was just as tall as the bully, and built just as solid.  
  
"Yeah, well, I'm gonna have one with you in about five seconds if you don't let him go!" Chris heard the blond say as he got closer and worked his way into the crowd that was starting to gather. Looking around at the crowd as well as this skinny teen's group of loyal friends, the bully sheepishly let the boy back down.  
  
"You're not worth it... _None_ of you!" barked the bully; his eyes planted a burning stare at the blond teen. "I wouldn't have pegged you for such a goody-two-shoes, buddy," he snorted before he started to walk away. Chris tried hard to mask a smile as he followed the bully a short distance out of the crowd; he couldn't help but feel satisfied seeing a bully get his comeuppance. Now there was just one more thing to do... ice the cake. Quickly, Chris put his best game face on.  
  
"Hey!" Chris said to the bully. "_You_ are out of here!"  
  
The bully turned around to face Chris. Seeing he was a security guard, the bully's face went from slow burn anger to exaggerated disbelief. "What?" he scoffed. "Man, I didn't do anything! They started it!"  
  
If he had a dollar for every time he heard that one, Kevin thought, he could buy this park and make a policy to keep all the morons out! "Well, I got news for you. I'm finishing it."  
  
Just then, he saw it. A wheelchair with a rather impressive looking breathing apparatus attached to it's back was sitting near the roughly 100 yards away, along with the old man sitting in it and the park employee standing nearby. As more security arrived, Chris handed off the blustering bully to a couple other security guards to escort him out of the park, and quickly started to trot over to where the wheelchair was parked. As he did, his expression softened as he remembered to take it easy on the old man.  
  
After all, no one's in trouble here.

* * *

As the group of teenagers settled themselves after the nasty conversation with the bully, the sandy blond nine year old boy yelled excitedly, "Hey look! The Dungeons and Dragons ride!"

* * *

"You're... you're talking nonsense!" Kevin yelled at Josef.  
  
"Am I, young man? Then why does your face look like part of you believes me?" Josef answered back.  
  
"But you're an old man! You've never been on the ride before!" Kevin said with an almost pleading voice.  
  
"But someone will," Josef said as he nodded toward the ride. Instinctively, Kevin turned to look at the ride. He saw Reggie waving in Diana Beckett over to the ramp way so they could enter one of the roller coaster cars. Along with Diana were the two with her at the drinking fountain, Eric Montgomery and "Presto" Myers. Along with them were two more of Kevin's high school classmates, blond haired high school football player Hank Greyson and a fair skinned and freckled redhead named Sheila O'Brien. Jumping ahead of all of them with youthful exuberance was a sandy blond young boy Kevin didn't recognize, though Sheila did mention at one time she had a brother...  
  
All of a sudden, a very stern and determined looking security guard came trotting in Kevin's direction, giving both Kevin and Josef pause. As he came closer, Kevin and the security guard greeted each other, though the guard's stern expression did not change.  
  
"Kevin," greeted the guard. He then graciously but firmly started talking to Josef. "Is your name Mr. Mueller?" the security guard asked. Josef simply nodded impatiently. "Sir, I believe it would be in your best interest if we all took a trip to the nurse's office."  
  
"Why? What's wrong, Chris?" Kevin asked.  
  
The guard simply took a quick glance at Kevin, then went back to talking to Josef. "Everything's fine, sir. There are just some things we want to get straightened out. We can come right back after we're done."  
  
"No! Not now! Do you see them Kevin? Can you feel it?" Josef asked in a very desperate voice. He took a quick glance at the 'D-n-D' to see his classmates slip into a coaster car and start moving into the mouth of the dragon, but then quickly turned his attention towards Josef. He wasn't looking good _at all_; he was sweating profusely, and his lips, off color enough as they were, were now a sickly blue. His face grimaced as if trying to hide the pain he was feeling.  
  
"Sir, I think we should take a trip _right now_," the guard said in a more steely voice; a look of scared concern crossed his face, apparently at seeing Josef's condition up close for the first time.  
  
Just then, Josef started to take sharp stabbing breaths; he fumbled with his oxygen mask and slipped it awkwardly to his face.  
  
"Don't leave me Kevin! Unnnh!! This has to be the moment! I'm not leaving!" Josef grunted through his oxygen mask. There were tears in his eyes again.  
  
"Josef! You... you really don't look right! Maybe we should..."

* * *

"I don't like this!" Diana Beckett yelled as she saw the logical world she had always known quickly fall away from under her feet.

* * *

Suddenly, Kevin's senses went all haywire. To his eyes, the colors of the world started to become brighter and blurrier, his body felt like it was starting to float off the ground, and his tongue burned like it was on fire. Again without thinking about it, Kevin looked back at the dragonhead, this time to see the eyes again glowing, but now somehow the dragonhead looked different. Kevin could not put into words how he could have described it, but at that moment the dragon head seemed to be... laughing.  
  
Kevin turned back to Josef. Through his blurry view of the world, he saw Josef's eyes closed as he leaned back in his chair, the security guard placing the oxygen mask tightly on his mouth. The guard was talking frantically into his walkie-talkie, though for some reason Kevin couldn't hear him. In his daze, Kevin reached out for Josef and grabbed his hand. He squeezed it, and felt himself asking if Josef was all right, but Josef's hand laid still, and Josef did not answer. There was no movement.  
  
No movement at all.


	5. Strange Waves

**Zeitgeist  
  
Chapter 5- Strange Waves**

As he looked into the rear view mirror of his fiery red Trans Am, the driver couldn't help but smile to himself, once again admiring how he looked with his mirror sunglasses on. It brought to his mind the character in the Paul Newman movie "Cool Hand Luke" who wore the same kind of sunglasses, the one who oversaw the prisoners as they worked along the side of the road. The character had a serious grimace and was a killer shot with a rifle. The prisoners called him "The Man with No Eyes."  
  
The man behind the wheel of the Trans Am nodded to himself as he turned his attention back to the highway in front of him. The Man with No Eyes. The driver liked the sound of that name; it had a mysterious power to it. He knew that to be truly effective, especially in his line of work, some things must be kept hidden. The eyes of a man reveal far too much, "the windows of the soul," as the old cliché goes. If that were the case, the driver reasoned with grim satisfaction, then he was truly, The Man with No Eyes. He had no soul; it was the province of another.  
  
Of course, the driver had eyes to see. Eyes that could peer into a person's heart and burn it from the inside out. One look and he could see down into the pit of one's soul and make one relive their darkest nightmares. Even in this place, where such things took some effort, the driver knew all of a man's being could be open to him, to play with, to ponder, to tear apart.  
  
All hid behind his designer sunglasses.  
  
There was a dancing of red lights in his rearview mirror, followed by a wailing siren. The driver's face twisted into a look of disgust, as if he had bitten into some rotten fruit. His car slowed down and he parked by the side of the road. A few seconds later, a highway patrol car parked itself behind him.  
  
Minutes ticked by. The driver figured that the officer in the car was calling his "good buddies" at the station, running his plates, checking for anything out of the ordinary. Not that they would find anything, he was sure of that. In his line of work, he knew it was important not to draw attention to himself until the appropriate time. He was, however, in a hurry to get where he was going, and had no time for dealing with the laws of the land. The driver exhaled an impatient, inaudible growl as the patrolman stepped out of his vehicle and walked toward the Trans Am on the driver's side.  
  
He stopped to peer down at the driver through his opened car window.  
  
"Sir, do you know how fast you were going?" asked the patrolman in that curt but polite manner that the driver suspected was taught on his first day of training.  
  
The man in the sunglasses slowly turned his head and glanced up at the patrolman. A toothy smile crept across his lips. "Apparently not fast enough," the driver quipped.  
  
The driver could see the patrolman's jaw slightly tighten. "Sir, I need to see your driver's license, and I would ask you to please remove your sunglasses," he said again in that professional patrolman voice.  
  
"And I would answer you to say I don't think you want to see me without my sunglasses, and to tell you the truth, I don't think you need my driver's license," the driver said in a pleasant tone that seemed designed to spurn the officer.  
  
"Sir, let's not have a situation here," huffed the officer. "You were clocked at going 95 miles per hour. Right now, you will only be written up for speeding. Let's not make it anything else. I'll ask you again, please take off your glasses and hand over your license."  
  
The driver turned away from the officer and looked down, his glance appearing to be looking at the steering wheel. "I am not going to give you my license, and you are not going to give me a speeding ticket. But if you need me to take my glasses off so badly..." the driver slowly took off his shades.  
  
"Sir, I want you to step out of the..." The officer's voice squeaked to a halt as the driver peered up and stared into the officer's eyes. The patrolman's eyes grew wide and his lips began to quiver. His breathing sputtered as if he had forgotten how.  
  
"This is what's going to happen," said the driver coolly. "You are going to go back to your patrol car, and you are going to tell your station that you let me off with a warning." The driver halted for a brief moment, studying the officer's visage more closely. He flashed a wide grin, as if he had suddenly discovered something surprising and humorous.  
  
"From this moment on, your all consuming fear is that your poor wife will discover the foul deeds you've done. You'll worry about her finding those pictures under the stairs. Worry about the little girl next door, and what she will tell her parents..."  
  
The driver's eyes seemed to glow like hot embers and his words poured out as if from a serpent's tongue. The officer's eyes became wet with tears and he could not contain the small sob that escaped his lips.  
  
"Then, feeling like a drowning man with no hope, one night just after getting off work, you'll think of the shotgun under your seat..." The driver let out a gloating laugh as he slipped back on his sunglasses and started his car. "Then, it'll be only a matter of time," said the driver.  
  
Gunning the engine, the Trans Am sped off with its tires squealing as they burned on the pavement. The driver's expression turned from one of satisfaction, to exhaustion. The incident with the patrolman had drained him unexpectedly, and he snarled and cursed in the language of his kind. He reminded himself how he hated patrolmen, how he hated traffic laws, how he hated people and their pitiful little lives.  
  
How he hated this world. This magic starved world. He could see the cruel irony of it... how in other places, his power would flow with little effort. Yet in this world, the perfect place to escape from Him, magic seeped like blood escaping a bandaged wound. 'In the Land of the Blind, the one eyed man is king,' the driver had heard. And coming from Venger's Realm, where magic flowed like water careening down a mountain pass in the middle of spring, the driver could see why it would be hidden here. In this magical desert, it could shape reality to easily hide and escape any who would covet its power.  
  
But after a long search over unimaginable distances, the driver felt the chase could finally be over. He looked at the compass on the dashboard. It was not pointing north. The driver could feel a tingle of magic that he could not fully explain, tempting him forward.  
  
As the driver sped down the road, making a point to go faster than 95 miles per hour, he glanced at a billboard at the side of the road. It read "Come Visit Looneyland! 30 Miles to Family Fun!" in bright, cheery, yellow letters. On the billboard was a picture of a cartoon Loon character and a face of a red dragon.  
  
A thought crossed the driver's mind, and he studied his compass again. Signs are important, he reminded himself, and one is foolish to ignore them. He gunned the engine again, and the Man With No Eyes sped down the highway in his firey red Trans Am.

* * *

For a short but uncomfortable amount of time, Kevin had trouble remembering where he was. Sitting on a bench, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, Kevin quickly took stock of his surroundings. He looked around and took note that he sat in a long room with several office doors on one side, and windows on the other. The view outside was that of the main square at the entrance of Looneyland, obstructed by the information desk. Kevin realized he was in the waiting area of the Loonyland offices, an area he has been through dozens of times, but at the moment seemed out of place and foreign to him.  
  
Shaking his head, Kevin tried to steady himself, and struggled to remember how he got there. In his mind, he worked backwards from where he was. He remembered being ushered into the room and told to relax by Norma. Before that, he half remembered scenes of desperate tones, and how everyone looked so drained and hectic. There was a doctor, an ambulance...?  
  
"Josef," Kevin blurted in surprise.  
  
Just as Kevin seemed to get shocked back to reality by his concern for the old man, Norma entered through the door at the far end of the room and walked toward Kevin; her shoulders slumped and her expression was drained. She tried to form a sympathetic smile as she approached Kevin, only half succeeding.  
  
"You okay, Kevin?" she asked.  
  
"How's Josef?" Kevin asked weakly.  
  
Norma sighed. "Well, I just got word that he was still alive when he reached the hospital... wasn't responding to anything, though. They're probably still working on him."  
  
Kevin looked withdrawn as he stared down at the floor.  
  
"Kevin, I'm sorry this had to happen. He never should have been out there. This was all just a big mistake," Norma said sympathetically.  
  
"I should have brought him back as soon as I knew how sick he was..."  
  
"No, no..." Norma interjected, "You did exactly what we asked you to do, and it's our fault." Norma put her hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Look, Kevin... believe me, Mr. Leonard is feeling awful about this whole thing. Don't think for a minute that you did anything wrong, okay?"  
  
Kevin simply nodded.  
  
"You're really concerned about him, aren't you?" Norma asked softly.  
  
"He told me he didn't have long to live," said Kevin matter-of-factly, sounding dead to the world. "I think he knew that... this would be his last trip anywhere he would ever make. And he... shared other things."  
  
"Like what?" Norma asked.  
  
"I'm not sure right now. He told me things at the end that... that..." Kevin stammered.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
Kevin took a deep breath and looked up at Norma. "About his past, I think. Stuff he learned. Stuff left undone... sort of personal stuff."  
  
Kevin was unsure what to tell Norma at this point, considering he could barely make sense of what Josef told him, nor could he make sense about how he felt in Fantasy Land. Nor about the ride.  
  
"Ah. I see." Norma said. Something then caught her eye. "Say, what do you have there?" she asked.  
  
"What?" Kevin responded like he didn't have a clue.  
  
"That in your hand," Norma answered, pointing to Kevin's left hand. In it was a tightly folded up piece of paper.  
  
Kevin glanced at the paper as if it had been the first time, surprised to find it in his hand to begin with. He unfolded the paper for Norma to see. Kevin gasped as he saw what it was.  
  
It was Josef's flyer. The innocent piece of advertisement that spurned the old man to fly half way around the world.  
  
Kevin's thoughts were a jumble as he tried to piece together how he had gotten it. Did Josef give it to him at the last moment? Did Kevin grab it off him? The moments between the time of Josef's attack and now were a blur to him. Kevin could only piece together the bits and pieces. The frantic minutes as the security guard called for help, the paramedics wheeling Josef to the first aid station, the ambulance arriving, the concerned expressions on Norma's face... Mr. Leonard... Josef's assistant Michael was there too.  
  
"Where did you get this?" Norma asked.  
  
"Huh?" Kevin responded as if in a daze. "Oh, uh... Josef... gave it to me."  
  
Norma shook her head. "I don't recognize this advertisement at all."  
  
"You sure?" Kevin asked, with interest.  
  
"Of course I'm sure. I see all the promotional material before it goes out. Did Mr. Mueller mention where he got it?"  
  
"Uhhh... he said it was in his mail... at home... England."  
  
"Huh. Thought he was German." Norma said, still studying the flyer.  
  
"Well, actually..."  
  
"We don't do any direct mail promotions. Especially not overseas. I wonder what..."  
  
"There you are!" Came a voice belonging to Mr. Leonard from the far end of the room. He strolled across the room full of the vigor that he always seemed to have. His face, though, was uncharacteristically somber looking. At least, for him.  
  
"Kevin, Kevin... I'm so sorry about what happened out there today. Really I am," said Mr. Leonard as he patted Kevin on the back. "If anyone has to be blamed, then the blame should be put on me."  
  
"That's okay," Kevin said, managing to show a weak smile.  
  
"You don't look so well, son. Do you need to visit the nurse?" Mr. Leonard asked.  
  
"No, I think I'm okay now," Kevin answered. "Just need to get on my feet and walk around a little. Still kinda numb thinking about what happened."  
  
Mr. Leonard glanced at the flyer. "Where did you get that? I don't recognize it."  
  
"Oh, it was Mr. Mueller's," answered Kevin.  
  
"I was just thinking that," Norma chimed in. "I don't recognize it either. Do we go through any outside agency for promotion overseas?"  
  
"What? You know we don't do that, Norma," Mr. Leonard answered. "Is that where Mr. Mueller got it?"  
  
"Yes. According to Kevin," Norma answered. "He got it in the mail in England."  
  
"Huh. Thought he was German," Mr. Leonard replied.  
  
Kevin spoke up, "Well actually..."  
  
"Realm? Since when did we ever call that ride a 'Realm'?" Mr. Leonard barked. "And this picture of that dragon is far too menacing! I mean, how are we supposed to promote a family atmosphere with a huge drooling dragon?"  
  
"Uh... is it a big deal?" Kevin asked. "At least it got the address right."  
  
"But these are our intellectual property!" Mr. Leonard exclaimed. "Kevin, can I have this?"  
  
"No!" Kevin shot out as he stood up with a suddenness that surprised even him. "I mean, I think Mr. Mueller wanted me to have it... as a keepsake," said Kevin in a much more controlled manner.  
  
"Oh... okay," Mr. Leonard said with a nod. "Can I make a copy of it? You can have it right back," Mr. Leonard stated.  
  
"Can we do it right now?" Kevin asked.  
  
"All right," Mr. Leonard agreed. Nodding goodbye to Norma, Kevin and Mr. Leonard walked out of the hallway waiting area where Kevin was sitting, to the office supply room where the copying machine was kept.  
  
"Can I ask a question about Fantasy Land?" asked Kevin as he walked alongside his boss.  
  
"Sure. What do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, whose idea was it? I mean, to put a different theme inside Loonyland?"  
  
Mr. Leonard looked at Kevin quizzically. "Well, it was the owners, of course. I was there when George and the boys were discussing it... it just sort of happened when we developed the idea for the Dungeons and Dragons ride."  
  
As Mr. Leonard mentioned the ride, Kevin instinctively stopped walking as he absorbed the information. Mr. Leonard stopped with him, and looked at the teenager with concern.  
  
"What is it?" asked Mr. Leonard.  
  
"Are you telling me that the plan was to build around a Dungeons and Dragons ride all along?" Kevin asked in an almost accusing tone.  
  
"Well... yeah. I mean, there was some problems with the final design of the 'D-n-D', so we didn't get around to actually building the ride until this year. But, yes, that ride was in our design for the park all along."  
  
"So, the park fits the theme of the ride," Kevin said in a manner sounding like he was quoting someone else.  
  
"Heh. Yeah, I guess you could say that," Mr. Leonard said with a chuckle.  
  
Kevin wasn't laughing.  
  
They entered the office supply room that housed the copying machine. Mr. Leonard snickered as he found out that no one had turned it on today and had to warm up. The machine buzzed to life as Mr. Leonard hit the switch.  
  
"Is that why they made Fantasy Land?"  
  
Mr. Leonard nodded. "Well, maybe not the only reason, but it does fit the theme, right?"  
  
"Isn't that sort of confusing though? Sort of having two different theme parks in one place?" Kevin asked, fidgeting like asking the question somehow made him uncomfortable.  
  
Mr. Leonard gave Kevin an odd sideways glance as the copying machine clicked to life. Kevin, somewhat reluctantly, handed over the flyer to be copied.  
  
"It doesn't hurt to do something different," answered Mr. Leonard in a calm even manner that unsettled Kevin a bit. With that, the machine spit out several copies of the flyer. Mr. Leonard folded up the copies and gave the flyer back to Kevin.  
  
"So, you okay now?" asked Mr. Leonard.  
  
"Yeah, I think I'll feel better after I eat my lunch," answered Kevin.  
  
"You haven't eaten yet?" Mr. Leonard blurted. "Go get some food in you! You'll feel a whole lot better."

* * *

Kevin stepped out into the fountain square at the entrance of Loonyland; his thoughts were unsettling him. He loved Loonyland and he didn't care who knew it or what they thought about it. Since he was six, it was the one place in the world where he felt the most comfortable. It was a place that irresistibly pulled him in every summer, and most times he went, he had a great time. His mom and dad, and practically everybody else really, always questioned him why he never got bored of the place, but to Kevin it was a non-issue. To him, it was where he felt he belonged.  
  
But now it was different. There was an uncomfortable presence in Loonyland, and Kevin didn't like it one bit. Whether it was something unimaginably real or some backwards thought in his mind, Kevin wasn't sure, but he knew it was there. He felt it, and it annoyed him like the buzz of a mosquito in his ear at night.  
  
And it all had to do with the ride... the Dungeons & Dragons ride. It had a power Kevin didn't understand, but he knew it was there even when he considered how silly the whole idea was. The things that Josef told Kevin were now making some weird sort of sense to him. Josef was hinting that the whole reason for Fantasy Land's existence was because of the Dungeons and Dragons Ride, and Mr. Leonard had proved him correct in a way. But what if it went deeper than that? What if somehow it just wasn't a question of just whimsical medieval props and window dressing? What if the ride was making others shape the nearby surroundings in ways that it wanted? What did Josef call it? A beacon? A warning?  
  
But a warning for what? It was an amusement park ride! And for all its bells and whistles, a pretty safe one at that. Where was the danger?  
  
At this point, Kevin didn't know what to feel about the ride. He did know, however, that he was hungry and stood and thought for a moment what to eat. A choice of either to go in the back of one of the food courts and get something from the cooks, or go into the park and get something from one of the food stands, which, though not officially forbidden in Loonyland, was frowned upon by the management when it was an employee. Right now, though, Kevin was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to care.  
  
It was all standard park fare... corn dogs, pizza, fries... although Fantasy Land had a large booth at their King's Court that served whole turkey legs, though the prices were outrageous. Kevin was in the mood for any old thing... and chided himself for not packing his own lunch.  
  
That's when he began to feel it. As he strolled down the Loonyland fairway, he could feel his senses start to lose control of themselves, just like when Josef had his attack, and the ride seemed to flair up in all its angry glory. Kevin stopped walking, sweating profusely at the thought of going through the experience again. But the feeling was not as strong this time. While the experience with Josef was a blazing explosion of sensations, the feeling Kevin was experiencing now seemed to be that of a warm campfire in a cold autumn day, drawing him near.  
  
Kevin sensed a presence, and he followed the direction from where he "felt" it. He looked around at the other fairgoers; instinctively checking to see if anyone else was feeling the same way he was, drawn to the same presence he was drawn to. He was not surprised to see that the fairgoers were going about their business enjoying themselves as usual.  
  
Though he didn't know why, Kevin quickened his pace almost to a full trot, although he did not know where he was trotting to. Nor could Kevin tell if it was his own curiosity driving him or some other invisible force at work, pulling him. All Kevin knew was that there was something amiss, and he knew it, and somehow he had to be there.  
  
As he quickly hustled passed fairgoers, Kevin knew that he was close. It was across the fairway, just off the entrance of the roller coaster. Kevin knew it... he felt it, and his heart was pounding from anxiety.  
  
And then, he saw it.  
  
And then the feeling stopped.  
  
It was a hamburger stand.  
  
For a moment, Kevin stood dumbfounded. He blankly stared at the small, unassuming hamburger stand that had been placed across the fairway from the exit of the roller coaster, along with an ice cream stand. Oblivious fairgoers walked by. A small child played on a small dividing wall, tempting to be another humpty dumpty, while her mother scolded her. Everything was normal.  
  
Kevin was numb.  
  
"I didn't imagine it," whispered Kevin. "My God, what is wrong with me?"  
  
"That wasn't you, was it?" a voice yelled. It came from the proprietor of the stand, who Kevin recognized vaguely, though didn't know his name.  
  
"Huh?" Kevin responded from across the way.  
  
The proprietor waved Kevin over to the stand while at the moment there was no line.  
  
"Did you want a hamburger? Was that you?" the man asked.  
  
"'Was that me' what?" Kevin asked.  
  
"You mean that wasn't you either? Wow... that was bizarre! They got some strange acoustics around here. So, you want a burger?"  
  
"Uhhh... yeah... I guess," Kevin answered.  
  
He paused as the man started to fry up his burger, not exactly knowing what to ask, doubting his own mind.  
  
"Did you notice anything weird here a minute ago?" Kevin asked finally.  
  
"Did you hear that, too?" the burger man asked boldly. "Man, I thought I imagined it."  
  
The comment drew Kevin's focus like a laser beam and he looked squarely at the burger man. "You imagined what?" asked Kevin.  
  
"I heard... noises... voices, coming from somewhere. It was really weird."  
  
"Did these voices say anything?" asked Kevin intently.  
  
"Yeah, it said, 'Boy, I can almost taste those hamburgers.' So I turned around to respond and there was nobody. Weird!"  
  
"Oh," Kevin responded, somewhat disappointed. Somehow, he was expecting something a little more dramatic.  
  
"Oh, yeah!" the burger man continued. "Before that, I heard someone shout a name. Hank... I think."  
  
"Hank? Hank? Are you sure?" Kevin snapped.  
  
The burger man was taken aback slightly by Kevin's intensity. He looked at Kevin oddly as he fixed up his burger. "Uh, maybe. Probably came from a speaker they hid around here. Y'know, the ones that they pump cartoon jingles through sometimes."  
  
Kevin didn't respond. He stood silently with his thoughts, as the burger man prepared Kevin's burger and fries. Hank? Could it be Hank Greyson he heard? Kevin saw Hank with Diana before Josef's attack, so he knew that Hank was in the park. He saw them with their friends getting on the ride together... The Dungeons and Dragons ride.  
  
Kevin shook his head as a thought crossed his mind.  
  
Diana and her friends... what happened to them? 


	6. Signs

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter 6- Signs**

"Am I early or areyou late?" Reggie asked as he walked toward Kevin. Kevin was headed toward the area where Reggie just had lunch, in a section of the picnic area close to the work sheds the employees had made their own that was generally out of sight of most park goers. Over the years, Loonyland employees had made that particular section of the picnic area a place to eat and smoke and socialize while on breaks. A place Kevin said he would meet Reggie a half-hour earlier.

Kevin shrugged. "I'm late. I, uh...grabbed a burger by the roller coaster." Kevin held his hands, showing a small drink in a paper cup in one hand, and a white bag spotting with grease containing a burger and fries in the other.

"That frying stand? That's a little out of the way..." Reggie noted. "Do they make really good burgers?'

"Not sure. Haven't had mine yet."

"So, why did you go there?" Reggie asked. "You said we'd grab something at the food court together."

"I, uh...got distracted. I had a lot on my mind. It's been a weird day." Kevin explained.

"You got that old man on your mind?"

Kevin nodded. "Yeah. Sort of."

"Man, what happened? One minute I was just hustling people onto my ride, then all of a sudden I see a crowd gathering and paramedics and  
security all around you."

"He was sick, just like I told you. He had a really bad attack of...what did he call it? Pulmonary Hypertension...or something like that," said  
Kevin.

"Well, he told you he was sick. Pretty bad timing for you, though," Reggie said with a slight smirk.

"I think the security guard set him off," explained Kevin. "We were just looking at your ride, and just when you were letting Diana and her friends in the car, the guard comes over..."

"Whoa whoa whoa...wait a minute," Reggie interrupted. "Diana who?"

Kevin looked at him oddly. "Diana Beckett. Who else?"

Reggie shook his head. "Diana Beckett? I never saw Diana get on my ride."

"Yes you did!" Kevin exasperated. "I saw you wave them in before Josef...Mr. Mueller... had his attack."

"Hey man, if someone from school, especially someone as hot as Diana comes my way, I remember. Maybe it was someone else," Reggie  
explained.

"Nooo...I ran into her before she got on the ride. It was her!" Kevin exclaimed with a strange intensity that made Reggie give him a weird  
glance.

"She was with Eric Montgomery, Presto... Hank Greyson was there too! You couldn't miss them!" Kevin said; his voice had a desperate tone that sounded more of a voice trying to convince Reggie he was right. Reggie scowled a bit in agitation.

"How about our whole senior class while you're at it?" said Reggie sarcastically.

"I saw you and I saw them!" Kevin said, now with his voice with a tinge of frustration. "Hey! Sheila O'Brien was there too!"

Reggie rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"She was!" Kevin almost was shouting now. "She was being dragged by this little kid! I saw you check his height, for God's sake!"

"Wait..." Reggie blurted. "Did this kid have sandy blonde hair and was about this big?" Reggie put his hand out just a hair above his thigh as illustration.

"Yes!" Kevin exhaled with a small smile.

"Huh. Well, that would be Sheila's brother Bobby. But look... I didn't see them."

"Alright, stop it! You're not funny!" Kevin shouted as his face flared up in agitation.

"Who the hell said I was trying to be?" shot back Reggie, matching Kevin's intensity.

Kevin slumped his shoulders. "Fine. Be that way. I'm not in the mood to play your games, Reggie."

"Fine. Don't believe me! I gotta get back to work." Reggie snickered.

"Fine!" said Kevin.

"Fine!" said Reggie.

With that, Kevin and Reggie parted, Kevin walking toward the picnic area with his food, and Reggie back to work. Both teenagers' faces were twisted slightly in annoyance as they both walked away in a huff. Only Kevin stopped and looked back as Reggie stomped away. Kevin's features then saddened and he stared down at the ground as he continued to walk.

"Great going, Reaves," Kevin scolded himself. He felt sure that he would apologize to Reggie later, not that he felt that he was wrong about seeing Diana and the rest of her friends get on that ride. Rather, it was just not worth fighting over.

Was it?

As he walked toward the employee entrance to the picnic area, he wondered about what Reggie had said. He knew Reggie enough to know that Reggie wasn't very good at lying, and playing silly games was not in Reggie's character; he was too...blunt. If Kevin had not seen with his own eyes Diana, Hank, and the rest get on that ride, he would've believed Reggie's denials in a second. Moreover, the more he judged Reggie's reaction, the more he concluded that Reggie believed he never saw Diana and his friends.

But Kevin had no doubt in his mind that he saw them, just before Josef had his attack and Kevin's own senses exploded. And now, after talking to Reggie and the hamburger man, Kevin was convinced it was not just a quirky coincidence. Something happened at that time, and Diana and her friends were linked to it somehow. But how? In what way? Kevin regretted he was still on the clock, otherwise he would search the park for them. For now, he would just have to keep his eyes open and give word at the gate to give him a heads up if they ever left. After all, some of the employees working the turnstiles went to the same school and would recognize them if they left.

There were a few gates in the fence separating Loonyland from the public picnic area. Some well known and some not so known. Kevin was heading for the entrance that the employees knew by cutting through the barn housing some of the parks landscaping equipment. It was usually locked, but it was well known that employees conveniently arranged to have it open during breaks and mealtime, during which theywould inconspicuously eat, chatter, and smoke behind a clump of trees settled in front of a niche in the fence. As Kevin worked his way through the barn, he found the door kept ajar by a piece of cardboard. Walking out of the door and into the shade of some nearby pines, Kevin noticed the employees had already conveniently "borrowed" a picnic table for their own use. Kevin sneered a bit. He knew that there was a lecture about using park property in his future.

A couple of girlsdressed in the same red, white, and blue ensemble as Kevin was, got up from their lunch just as Kevin walked over. He nodded to them as they went back to work through the barn door, but they were too wrapped up in their own conversation to notice. And then...SLAM! Kevin groaned as he recognized the sound; the chattering girls forgot to replace the cardboard in the door...he was locked out.

Considering how his day was going, Kevin wasn't surprised.

He sat down and broke out his meal, giving a quick bite to his burger. It was as all the food at the park...salty, greasy, tasty, and completely void of any nutritional value whatsoever. Through the trees, he could spot some of the parties he had set up for that morning still going on in the early afternoon sun. They seemed to be having a good time, and their joy seemed to lighten Kevin's mood a tad.

And so, Kevin sat chewing his food, alone with his thoughts. He wondered about the ride. He wondered about what Josef had said. He wondered if something happened to Diana and her friends. And most of all, he wondered if he should just forget this day and go home and take a nap. If he did that, he figured all these thoughts that were filling his head would probably be gone, and the world would make sense again. The 'D-n-D' would be just a stupid roller coaster. Josef would just be a delusional sick old man. Diana and her friends would be at school tomorrow.

He stopped chewing his food and a look of concern crossed his face as he noticed something in his hand. It was Josef's flyer. In his hand. Again. Did he take it out of his pocket without thinking about it? Without even noticing? He looked at the piece of paper with disdain on his face, figuring it was a memento of a day that he would rather soon forget.

"Piece of trash..." Kevin grumbled. "How could some old man come all this way because of a stupid scrap like you, huh?" asked Kevin bitterly to the piece of paper, almost as if the red dragon face printed on it would answer back. Mr. Leonard was right; the picture did have too menacing a look to it. Kevin studied the flyer front and back, looking for some clue, some fine print, to give some indication of who printed it. He held it up to a beam of sunlight that shined its way through the trees nearby.

What he found gave Kevin pause.

As he held the paper up to the light, he saw strange swirling patterns hidden in the paper. Like a series of twisting watermarks, these patterns came in several rows moving horizontally across the page. At first, Kevin thought they might be imperfections in the paper, but given a closer look, Kevin figured that the patterns were too well organized, almost like it was a written language. But what language? It didn't look like any kind of writing that Kevin had ever seen. Some parts were like swirls and loops, like cursive or Arabic, but there were other patterns that seemed to be more like symbols or objects than letters of an alphabet.

"What paper stock did you come from?" Kevin asked the flyer jokingly.

He shook his head at the absurdity of it all. It was hardly worth all the fuss to pay this much attention to some cheap piece of advertisement. At least, that's what Kevin thought in his head. Unfortunately, his heart was not playing along. In his heart, he sensed that with all that had happened today, something strange and extraordinary was going on in the park, and it involved Josef, the ride, himself, Diana and her friends, even the piece of paper in his hand. He did not know how he knew, nor why he would so easily accept such a thought, but he did.

"'Come visit Loonyland! The place for food, rides, and family fun!'" he read aloud from the flyer to himself. "Yeah. I hope that's all this place is for." He giggled slightly at his own joke.

He then kept reading the flyer aloud for reasons he couldn't understand. "Go 5 miles south off exit 2A..." he mumbled from the directions as he read. "'Adults ...$9.95, children ages 6 and over...$5.95, children under six...FREE!" Kevin blurted out. "Hours...Sunday thru Thursday...11 am to 8 pm...Friday and Saturday...11 am to 10 pm!"

As he kept reading aloud, Kevin's voice uncontrollably grew louder and louder. "Kids! Come explore Pirate's Island! Ride the world famous Zipper!..."

Then, building to a crescendo, Kevin yelled, "COME ENTER THE REALM OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!"

At that moment, a sound of a hearty bark made Kevin jump and drop the flyer as he was snapped back to reality. He looked down to see a brown shaggy dog panting at him excitedly. Then, Kevin noticed that he himself was breathing hard as he wiped the sweat that had suddenly appeared on his face. Kevin paused as he noticed that he recognized the canine at his feet.

"Hey you," Kevin said gently, "You run away again?"

The dog barked impatiently as he feverishly wagged his tail, as if he was waiting for Kevin to toss a stick.

"What is it boy? Did Timmy fall down the well again?" Kevin joked as he tried to steady his breathing and get a hold of himself.

"'Come visit Loonyland! The place for food, rides, and family fun!'" read a voice in the shade of the pine trees. A small girl with brunette hair in a ponytail walked towards Kevin holding up the flyer to read it. "See? Says right here. And Fred is family, aren't you boy?"

The dog woofed in response.

"Oh! Hi again!" the girl said to Kevin, "Wow, two times in one day. Fred really seems to like you."

"Yeah, I guess," Kevin said as he tried to show a good-natured smile to the girl he had met outside the park while waiting for Josef. "Have you been into the park yet?"

"Yeah, a couple of times. But my dad told me that we have to come back here every once in a while."

"Oh really? Why?" Kevin asked.

"Well, me and my mom and dad are here because my dad's work is having a picnic, and my dad says that it's good to stick around the picnic area to...brown nose. Whatever that means."

Kevin had to hold in a laugh.

"And we just moved here," the girl continued. "And my mom and dad are trying to meet new friends."

"Oh. Have you made any new friends?" asked Kevin.

"Mmm. Not really. But I have Fred here, right?" The girl vigorously scratched Fred's head. The dog panted contently as she did, but strangely enough, Kevin noticed that the dog never took his eye off him.

"He's my best friend in the whole world, aren't ya boy?" the girl continued. "We go everywhere together..."

Suddenly, for some strange reason, the girl's voice sounded deeper; every syllable of each word seemed to stretch in slow motion, as if listening to a tape on a lower setting. Kevin instinctively rubbed his ears.

"Wherever I go, he goes with me..." the girl said in a voice that seemed to trail off for miles in a deep canyon. He stared at the girl wondering what was happening. She seemed perfectly normal; a picture of wide eyed innocence. Around her neck was a heart shaped pendent that suddenly caught Kevin's eye as she spoke.

"'Come enter the Realm of Dungeons and Dragons! Oooo...spooky," she said as she gave a look to the flyer. Again, Kevin heard her voice as a long low echo as she read from the flyer. "I think you dropped this, mister. What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" As she spoke, her voice gradually seemed to return to normal.

"What? Oh..sorry," Kevin said as he relaxed his features. "Are you feeling okay?"

The girl shrugged. "I'm fine."

Kevin saw the flyer in the girl's hands and snatched it away as if it would do her harm. "I'm sorry...I have to go!"

"Hey mister, is something wrong? You left your food here!" She shouted as Kevin skipped away. He didn't look back. As he walked, he rubbed his eyes and face with his hands as if trying to wake himself up from a dream. As he got to the door of the work shed, he yanked on the doorknob to find that it was still locked. He pulled on it in desperation, gritting his teeth as he was flooded with the feeling that he had to get in. "C'mon...open up. OPEN UP!"

All of a sudden, Kevin felt a warm rush as the door flew open with a clank of metal scraping metal. At first, Kevin was shocked at the sudden rush, looking at the door lock half expecting to see it ripped from the door, but it was perfectly fine. Kevin paused, his mouth agape, and looked back at the girl. She just stood there silently; her hand holding the collar of her dog as she looked at Kevin apprehensively. With that, Kevin walked through the door and leaned against a wall of the work shed, taking a look around to see that he was alone.

He looked down at his right hand, which tightly held the flyer. He stood there, reflecting on what happened; trying to make sense of yet another strange experience that overtook him. Was it him? Was it something he felt from the girl? He didn't know, but he knew something. Something he had a hunch about ever since the first attack with Josef, and now was completely convinced of it. He knew, deep down, what was involved here, and it gave him shivers.

"Magic," Kevin whispered to himself.

* * *

The compass on the dashboard seemed to twitch as the Trans Am drove through the parking gate of Loonyland. The driver pressed his lips together, barely masking his excitement. It was close. Close enough that it could change the direction of the compass so dramatically at a close distance. After all these years, the driver thought, the chase would be over and it would finally be in his hands...or more to the point, in the hands of his master.

But why here? After all this time, why expose itself and come to this place... this second rate amusement park in the mountains? Nothing it ever did was out of blind chance; it had the power to use time and space and thought to its own ends, even in the limited fashion allowed on this world. As he drove toward the entrance, the driver took a quick glance at the pamphlet given to him by the parking attendant when he entered the lot. One thing on the piece of advertisement caught his hidden eyes.

The picture of a head of a dragon with a roller coaster entering its mouth. Underneath the picture was the caption "Thrills and Chills in the Dungeons & Dragons Ride!"

"A-ha..." The driver hissed. Only one thing could be involved to draw it out of hiding, only one place. The Hidden Realm of The Fallen Son, the Traitor, and in the driver's own opinion...The Failure. The Realm of Dungeons and Dragons. Venger's Realm. The driver let out a low, inaudible curse through gritted teeth; a red glow of rage pierced through the driver's sunglasses.

It is trying to get home. The Man With No Eyes would not let that happen.

* * *

"You know Hank Greyson, right?" Kevin asked the girl grabbing tickets at the turnstiles as customers went by.

"Don't be stupid. _Welcome to Loonyland_! Of course I do. _Welcome to Loonyland_!" said the girl.

Of course, Kevin knew that. The girl, whose name was Nancy, was a classmate of Kevin's. And that means she was a classmate of Hank's. And _everyone_ knew Hank.

"Did you see him leave the park today?"

"_Welcome to Loonyland_! No, he just came with Sheila O'Brien a couple of hours ago. _Welcome to Loonyland_! Why?" she asked, looking slightly annoyed.

"I, uh... have to talk to him," Kevin answered.

"Well, they're probably still here. _Welcome to Loonyland_! I think they were babysitting or something. _Welcome to Loonyland!"_

"How about Diana Beckett? Didja see her leave? She was with Eric Montgomery."

"Nope. _Welcome to Loonyland_! Yeah, can you believe that! Diana? With that spoiled jerk? _Welcome to Loonyland_! I don't care how much money he has..." Nancy guffawed.

"Alright alright...Can you do me a favor? Could you keep an eye out for them? Just tell them that Kevin Reaves wants to talk to them in school tomorrow."

"Yeah, if I run into them, I'll let them know. _Welcome to Loonyland_!"

"Alright."

Kevin sighed. He had talked to everyone who worked the gate today, and no one had seen Hank or Diana leave, or any of the other classmates he saw go on the ride. Kevin decided to ask on a hunch after thinking about his talk with Reggie, and considering that at least one of his classmates was at the gate during the whole day, Kevin was almost sure that they would have been spotted if they left, but he came up empty.

He walked across the square to the information booth being run by a friendly 24 year old named Tammi, who was pointing out a map to a customer.

"...and here, here, and here is where you can enter the park from the picnic area if you have your hand stamped."

"Oh, okay...thank you," the customer said as he walked off.

"Tammi," Kevin blurted, getting Tammi's attention.

"Hey, Kev. Ready to take over?"

Kevin bit his lower lip for a second, hating to ask a favor like this. "Actually, I was wondering if you could hold out a bit longer."

"Kevin, you were supposed to be here an hour and a half ago," Tammi explained disappointingly.

"I know, I know... I'm sorry," Kevin said sincerely. "Look, I have to go over to Fantasy Land for a bit. It's really important."

"Now?"

"Please! Look, I'll owe you big time, alright? I'll be back as soon as I can! I'll buy you a root beer float next time!"

"The extra large?"

"Please, Tammi," Kevin pleaded.

"Hmmpf...alright. But hurry back. If I have to point out the bathroom to one more person..."

"Thanks, Tammi! You're an angel!"

With that, Kevin turned and started walking into the park, determined to find Hank and Diana and the others they were with. Again, he did not know why finding Hank and his friends was important... he just knew that it was. They were somehow involved in these strange experiences Kevin was feeling. At least, he hoped they were. Then, it would give the possibility that there was an explanation, and Kevin just wasn't going nuts. It was a hunch, but it was the only thing he had to go  
on.

As he walked out of the open square at the entrance of Loonyland, Kevin felt an odd, unsettling tingle; one that ruffled the hairs on the back of his neck. He had known the phrase of someone 'walking on his grave', but never quite knew what it meant...until now. He felt the need to turn around and look back at the entrance, and through the gate he saw a red Trans Am slow down and stop near the gate. Though he did not know how, he could nearly feel the driver's gaze upon him, and a slight feeling of nausea swept over the teenager. The TransAm then drove off, and the creepy feelings left as suddenly as they had come, making Kevin feel more lost and confused as ever.

Kevin let out a tiny sob. He decided this all had to stop, otherwise he was afraid his own shadow would come alive and choke him to death. And he had a feeling he knew just where to go to stop it.

"This all started with that stupid ride," Kevin grunted. "That's where I'm going to finish it!"


	7. Talking With The Totem

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter 7- Talk With The Totem**

The driver took off his sunglasses and peered at the entrance of Loonyland the moment he parked and stepped out of his TransAm. He had felt what he would call a presence near the gate as he drove by just a few moments ago, though he wasn't quite sure what it was. In the best possible situation, he hoped that he might have sensed_ it_, but thought better of it. His line of work was rarely that simple, and this would probably be no exception. He could sense this place...this Loonyland...was a place of power, and his quarry would use this fact to its advantage.

The man in the sunglasses sneered.

All this time on this world he had quite enjoyed the feeling manipulating the invisible ways where the slightest nudge of thought, memory, or feeling could hold sway over any man. He played this game better than anyone, because he was the only one who knew the rules.

Such was not the case here, and it irritated him greatly.

He took a look at the compass he had removed from his dashboard, a deceptively cheap looking small black ball with white letters floating in liquid not unlike other compasses on the road. The only difference being the liquid holding the ball was the color of blood. The letter N bobbed to and fro, pointing toward the general direction of Loonyland, though not as directly as the man in shades would have liked. Putting the compass back in his pants pocket, the man pulled out a what looked to be a handful of office cards and started to shuffle through them impatiently. Picking one, the man put the rest back into his pocket and placed the card between his hands. Closing his eyes, he hummed a barely audible mumble. He opened his eyes and inspected the card again. Satisfied, the Man with No Eyes put the card into a separate pocket from the rest, and walked up to the entrance of Loonyland.

Waiting in line at the ticket counter, the man in shades studied his surroundings. The bright colors, the jolly recorded music, the sugary smell...the cheery atmosphere seemed to mock him and he could feel a rage building up in him. But now was not the time to get impatient, for he was too close to his goal, and it was wise for him to pay attention to protocol. Even him. Even here.

"Hello! Welcome to Loonyland! How many tickets, please?" said the bubbly young girl in the ticket booth.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the man in shades, with a smile that, to the ticket booth girl, seemed to crawl upon his face. "I'm not here to buy a ticket. I was wondering if you had a supervisor or a general manager or proprietor I could talk to?"

"Um...is there a problem, sir?" said the attendant.

"No, not at all. I am a dealer in...rare merchandise. Antiques and the like, you understand. I was curious if your supervisor would know of any memorabilia that he would be interested in selling."

"Uh...yeah," said the girl dumbfounded. She gestured to her left. "Well, there's a gift shop over there just past the big Loony statue, sir."

"Haaa..." heard the girl through the man's smile, though it to her it sounded more like a growl. "Is there someone I could talk to? Please," said the the man in shades bemusedly.

"Umm...okay. Lessee..." babbled the confused girl. "Could you please step out of line and wait over to the left, sir?" she asked as she picked up a phone in the ticket booth.

"Of course," the man replied.

The girl talked on the phone briefly and hung up. "Someone will be out shortly, sir," she told him as she started to sell more tickets to her line of customers.

As he waited, he pondered his plan. Memorabilia. As good as a place to start as any, the man in shades thought. Items considered precious, yet hidden and unused. It would be logical, but would he be right?

"Hello!" said a cheery voice coming from a portly man in a bright red suit that reached out to shake the shaded man's hand from behind a park guardrail. "I am Mr. Leonard, General Manager of the park. Tracy tells me that you were interested in buying some...antiques?" asked the cheery man confusingly.

"Memorabilia. Yes," said the the man in shades. "You see, I represent... a party that has an interest in amusement park memorabilia. Old posters, playbills, advertisements...things of that nature."

"Oh, I see. Oh my. How curious," said Mr. Leonard, as things became more clear to him.

"Yes. And I was wondering if you would have any items that would fit that description."

"Hmmm...Did we make an appointment with you today, Mr...?" coaxed Mr. Leonard.

"_Guile_," the man responded as he handed Mr. Leonard his "business card". "You may call me Mr. Guile. No, no appointment. I was driving upstate for an auction when I happened to notice your advertisements along the highway and...always keeping my eyes out for a rare find...I thought I would stop in and see if I could pique your interest."

"Uhhh...right," Mr. Leonard said, sounding a bit torn.

"Understand that my benefactor will pay most generously for such items," hinted Mr. Guile.

"Well, we do have a few things on site...hanging in and around the offices. You would have to talk about purchasing them from the owners of the park, however. And I'm sure they would have a much better selection for you..."

"Oh, I understand completely. I was just hoping to take a peak at a sample..."explained Mr. Guile.

"Is there any way we could set up an appointment? As you can see, we're very busy, this being opening day and all. Perhaps we can call the owners for a formal presentation?"

Mr. Guile knew where this was leading and his jaw tightened. He reached up to adjust his sunglasses; letting his eyes peer over the frames. His eyes appeared to shiver with a low red glow. "I am quite pressed for time, Mr. Leonard," said Mr. Guile in a low steady tone. "I would have to see what you have immediately." He adjusted his glasses to hide his eyes again. "If you please," he said with finality.

Mr. Leonard, for reasons unknown to him, felt a sudden need to help this man. He reasoned that the park's affairs would take care of themselves for a while. His eyes brightened as he smiled warmly in a welcoming gesture. "Oh, why not?" guffawed Mr. Leonard. "Would you like to come this way?"

Mr. Guile paused slightly, oddly glancing around in all directions for a brief moment. "Only if you invite me," he said in a droll tone.

"Well, c'mon in then! Welcome to Loonyland!"

A wide smile crept across the man's face, showing his immaculate, bright white teeth. "Thank you, Mr. Leonard. Thank you," Mr. Guile said, mouthing his words as if there were drops of venom seeping from his mouth.

Mr. Leonard, inexplicably, shuddered.

* * *

Kevin slowed as he closed to about 20 paces from the bridge that unofficially separated Loonyland from its newer cousin, FantasyLand. The determination that he felt just a few minutes before seemed to leave him as he got closer. He stopped and took a breath as he stared to the right of him to see the Dungeons and Dragons ride in full operation. From this distance, he could make out Reggie guiding fairgoers onto the ride, the coasters taking off, and the dragonhead lighting up. All in perfectly normal fashion. 

He would go over there, he would ride that stupid ride, and that would be THAT! And would prove once and for all that all the weird experiences...all the weird feelings that he had felt were all in his head. It was what he was telling himself.

He didn't believe it.

What he did believe was if he crossed the bridge, somehow this strange fixation about riding the ride would be too strong to overcome. Crossing the bridge meant entering another place that grabbed a hold of you. Another realm.

Realm? The word struck Kevin with the sense of odd trepidation. He remembered Mr. Leonard saying something about it. At the same time, Kevin replayed what Josef had said in his head over and over.

_"One amusement park with two themes. A dreadful mistake."_

"Couldn't agree with you more, Josef," he said, allowing himself a small chuckle. Still, he had noticed that he was feeling slightly light headed, and was sweating again.

"Ooooowalawalawala!" Kevin heard coming from his left. He turned abruptly in surprise, only to relax as he recognized the sight in front of him.

Standing by him, wildly flapping its hands (which were supposed to be wings if one was picky about such things) was Loony, the park's mascot. The large bird suit the poor employee was wearing had a red vest and polka dot bowtie, modeled after the park's uniforms. The oversize head had a large beak and eyeballs that had pupils bouncing around comically in different directions.

Loony goofily trotted around Kevin, as if trying to mock Kevin's rather depressing mood. Kevin, feigning ignorance, finally gave in. "How's it goin', Loony?" Kevin asked with a weak smile.

"Ooooowalawalawala!" replied the mascot.

"Hey, that sounded pretty good," Kevin commented. Leaning forward, Kevin whispered to the side of Loony's head. "Is that you in there, Jamie?" Kevin asked quietly.

"Nope. Guess again," replied the mascot in a cartoony yuck yuck voice. The voice was very good, Kevin thought. Exactly like the silly radio and TV ads he's seen.

"Benny?" Kevin asked, thinking of another employee.

"Nope nope nope...you're getting colder, buckaroo!"

Kevin was stumped on who it could be, and there was something else. The voice seemed to come out clear, instead of muffled like a voice should be when spoken from inside a big stuffed Loony head.

"Wanna guess again? I think you should! Ooooowalawalawala!"

It was then that Kevin noticed Loony's beak...it was moving up and down in sync with the voice. The mascot was somehow actually speaking through its beak!

"How're you doing that?" Kevin asked, studying the mascot's features.

"Me? Oh wowee wow. I got news for you Kevywevy. I'm not doing it...you are!"

Kevin paused for a moment, thinking Loony was telling a lame joke. "I don't get it. What's that supposed..."

"So here we are! Two little birdies! One loon and one chicken! Bok bok!"

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, if you're going to hop on the Dungeons and Dragons ride, you might wanna get goin'!"

Kevin was so shocked by this last comment his mouth was agape and had a hard time getting words out. Finally, he sputtered, "What did you say?"

"Yep yep yep...now would be a good time to get a move on. Big black clouds a comin'...don't wanna get caught in the rain. Ooowalawalawala!"

Kevin felt the mascot's breath on his face coming out of its mouth; smelling like fish and cotton candy. He saw the mascot's eyes, darting andalert. Lifelike.

"Y-you...you're real." Kevin croaked.

"Real enough," deadpanned the mascot.

"Who are you?" Kevin asked with a hint of anger. "What are you? How did you know I was going on that ride?"

The mascot sighed, sounding like a man gargling mouthwash. "Y'know, did you ever think maybe your life would be a lot easier if you just stopped asking questions and just go with the flow?" the mascot yucked in an impatient tone.

"I don't believe this!" Kevin belted.

"Yeah, I know. That's part of the problem," said "Loony."

"You're a cartoon character!" Kevin yelled.

"Tell me about it!" replied the mascot. "A flaming bird, a giant wolf...heck, even a talking frog I can understand...but this?" Loony seemed to check himself out, his hands, his clothes, like someone trying on clothes for the very first time.

Kevin glanced around at the other fairgoers walking by as the strange apparition talked. The patrons never took a second look at Kevin or "Loony." It was then that Kevin fully realized he was getting that weird sickly feeling again as the world seemed to blur and slow down. Everything seemed to grow quiet to Kevin's ears. Except for Loony.

"And what's with this silly bowtie? I tell ya...!" Loony ranted.

"Are you doing this to me? Are you the one making me feel dizzy?" Kevin asked desperately.

"Oh, golly. You people can be thick as a brick sometimes. Weren't you listening? I'm not doing anything...you are!"

"Me?"

"Well...okay, with a little help. I mean, this is all pretty new to you. That's why you feel so icky. I told ya...you should relax, ride it out. You'll feel better."

"Who's helping me?" asked Kevin, showing his disdain for the term.

"Eh, more of a what, actually." The teenager noticed Loony's big marble like eyes peered down at the flyer still in Kevin's had.

"This? This...piece of litter is doing this?" Kevin asked.

"It's kinda complicated. Let's just say it's adding gas to your engine, if you know what I mean," answered the mascot.

"How can this piece of...?"

"Listen kiddo," Loony interrupted, "I don't wanna be a spoilsport or anything but we really don't have time for twenty questions. C'mon! Shake your tail feathers! That ride's a waitin!"

"So? Why do you want me to go on it?" asked a frustrated Kevin.

"To give you answers to all those annoying questions that are filling your head, trust me on that Kevy. Just trying to buck you up, kid. After you cross that bridge, I can't help you."

"Why?"

Loony let out one of its sigh-gargles again. "Walking across that bridge makes you feel like going through someone else's underwear drawer, am I right? Ooooowalawalawala!'

"It...it never did before," Kevin said haltingly.

"But the ride was never there before, and you can sense what it's doing. You're in touch with this place, kiddo. It's all you," Loony said, in what would pass as a serious tone coming from it's cartoony voice.

"It is?" Kevin asked, a confused smile crossing his face.

"You ever really wonder why you've always felt so at home here in the park? You're in sync with it, always have been. Of course, that never really meant much, until now."

"That's..that's..." Kevin stuttered.

"Ptttthh! Alright! You want me to prove it to you?" the mascot asked.

Kevin nodded awkwardly.

"Relax, kiddo. Relax, close your eyes, and tell me the first image that pops in that confused little head of yours."

Kevin looked at Loony doubtingly.

"C'monnnn...you can trust this bird," goaded Loony.

Kevin snickered but closed his eyes and relaxed anyway. At first, he felt just silly, but as he breathed in and out, he could feel a ringing in his ears and his mind's eye being guided in a way he could not understand. For a brief time, his senses, oh so subtly, seemed to spread out. Sound,scent, and sight, all jumbled together, like Kevin was trying to vainly listen to every conversation set in the entire park of Loonyland.

But then, a single image came into focus and a scene played out in Kevin's mind. Kevin grimaced.

"I see...there's a frog...wearing a big _ying-yang_ medallion," Kevin said.

"Uh huh," the mascot blurted.

"Wait! No! It's a _man_, wearing frog head. Or...good grief! It is his head! It's a man with a giant frog head!"

"Hehe...go on," replied Loony.

"He's standing in water and he's talking to someone. He's clutching the medallion...he seems upset with it. He's...wearing armor, for crying out loud!"

"Hah! Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Kevin opened his eyes and snapped his head like he had been woken up from a trance. He looked at Loony in disbelief. "What just happened?" Kevin asked.

"Just feeling those good vibrations, kiddo. Getting a feel of what's going on in the park, just like you always have, only bigger!" Loony spread its arms in a bold gesture.

"Going on? I just saw some yellow knight with a head of a _frog_! How can I be 'in touch' with that!"

At that moment, Kevin could almost see Loony make out a sly 'I-have-a secret' smile from its cartoony birdlike features.

"Now," Loony leaned forward to talk softly in Kevin's ear. "Look behind you."


	8. Comings and Goings

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter 8- Comings and Goings**

"Now, this poster was painted in 1966 highlighting the fact that we also had a touring circus come through our town that summer. It was sort of a joint event. See? That's the old Zipper behind the elephant there," Mr. Leonard explained as he tapped the poster encased in glass on the wall. The one known as Mr. Guile nodded convincingly, seemingly showing genuine interest in what Mr. Leonard was presenting.

It was a lie. Mr. Guile couldn't care less. It took all his self control to hide his restlessness. He was so close to his goal. So close to unheard of power for the taking, only to waste time with this weak, blithering shell of a man. Self-doubt entered his mind, which was very unusual for a being used to being in control of every situation.

"And as you can see, this is in very fine condition. Um...is the light in here too bright, Mr. Guile?" Mr. Leonard asked, obviously referring to the man's sunglasses.

"Not at all, Mr. Leonard," Mr. Guile answered. "I have this...rather rare condition with my eyes. I'm fine. Please continue."

"Oh, okay. Are these the kind of items that your buyer is looking for?"

"Yes, these are precisely what we're interested in," lied Mr. Guile. These items were precisely what he was not interested in. What he was interested in was nowhere to be seen. The uncomfortable thought crossed his mind of his target slipping away while he was wasting time in the Loonyland offices, and he could feel his eyes flare up in a flash of anger.

"Doug? Got a minute?" said a redheaded woman who had walked up to them. Mr. Leonard and Mr. Guile turned their attention to her. Mr.Guile's face was a pleasant grinning facade.

"Umm...what is it, Norma?"

"I have those figures from the weekend campground reservations you wanted to look at," Norma said. "You were right. Someone down the line is messing up. I know...I know we're ahead of last year, but it just isn't showing..."

"Yes yes... whatever, Norma. Can't you see I'm busy here?" Mr. Leonard said in a curt manner that gave Norma a bit of pause.

Mr. Guile smirked as Norma viewed him. His slicked back hair. His black suit coat and pants. His sunglasses.

"I...okay. I'm sorry," Norma said. "I'll get back to you later."

"Do that. Now, let me show you the rest, Mr. Guile," Mr. Leonard said, oblivious to Norma as she walked away, vexed. "There are some in my office. Why not take a look?"

"That would be fine, thank you," Mr. Guile said.

As they walked to his office, Mr. Guile scanned the area, noting where each member of the office staff would be in case something happened in Mr. Leonard's office. Though his outward appearance didn't show it, Mr. Guile was drained; the last vestige of his abilities was drained when he adjusted Mr. Leonard's thinking at the gate, and he was not feeling his strength returning. He had come to accept that on this world. His power was subtle under the best of circumstances, and now in Loonyland, his power over others almost ceased. Just before he entered Mr. Leonard's office, he gave a quick look at the dashboard compass in his pocket. The black ball was twirling round and round directionless in the red liquid. He cursed under his breath.

Mr. Leonard cheerfully pointed to a poster with a picture of a black and white cartoon bird dressed in red prominently displayed riding a roller coaster.

"Now, here was the poster from the first year in which this park was renamed Loonyland back in 1971," Mr. Leonard said. "There's our 'spokesman' Loony, who at the time had his own cartoon show on CBS. It only lasted about 3 seasons, but you'd be surprised about how many remember it."

Mr. Guile was ignoring Mr. Leonard's words, feeling too impatient to bear with this act much longer. Instead, he just quickly examined the room, only to sense a familiar presence as he looked over a handful of papers on Mr. Leonard's desk. For a brief moment, excitement almost overtook him, believing that he had achieved his target and could quickly and quietly silence this annoying park manager. Mr. Guile knew he couldn't control him using his more subtle manners, but what would it matter now that he had achieved his goal? He had a knife in his front pants pocket and a garrote wire in his coat.

But no. Mr. Guile's senses quickly determined that though the presence he had felt was similar, it was not his target. Ignoring Mr. Leonard as he rambled on, Mr. Guile walked over to Mr. Leonard's desk and picked up the small bundle of papers he had examined. What he saw was a black and white picture of the face of a menacing dragon. On the top of the paper read the words: "COME VISIT LOONYLAND! THE PLACE FOR FOOD, RIDES, AND FAMILY FUN!" On the bottom read: "COME ENTER THE REALM OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!"

Mr. Leonard, occupied in proudly presenting his park items, didn't notice what Mr. Guile was doing until he was intently shuffling through the papers. "Uh...Mr. Guile? Is there something...?"

"Where did these come from?" Mr. Guile asked with a passion.

"Those? Uh, that's...something of a mystery I have to touch base on. Those are copies of an advertisement that one of my employees had come across. An unauthorized advertisement of..."

"And where would the original be?" Mr. Guile asked in a demanding tone.

"Um... I believe he still has it. He wanted to keep it, don't ask me why. It was given..."

"And where would this employee be right now?" Mr. Guile asked forcefully.

"Uh.. Mr. Guile, I don't understand. This thing is in no means a valuable keepsake. It's not even an official advertisement. It's my opinion that it's not even legal. Heck, I don't even know where it came from. Unless.." Mr. Leonard cocked his head to one side in curiosity. "Mr. Guile, do you know where it came from?"

Mr. Guile paused. He thought quickly on how he should play this. If he said anything relating to the advertisement, it might make Mr. Leonard suspicious, and complicate matters. However, he knew he was close to his target, and needed all the information he could get. If Mr. Leonard had to be taken care of later, so be it.

"I believe I am familiar with...something like it. But I can't be sure unless I see the original. Do you know where this employee is? Perhaps I can help you clear up this mystery."

"Wow. That would be great," Mr. Leonard said. "Um... I think Kevin's in the information booth right outside. Let's go out and check."

"Indeed, Mr. Leonard. Let's do that."

* * *

Kevin apprehensively turned toward the lake behind him, following Loony's advice, almost afraid to look. At first, he was heartened to only see just the lake, with the afternoon breeze rippling the water. But then, he noticed some odd figure in the distance, and as his eyes focused on it, Kevin let out a loud gasp. 

Standing in the middle of the lake, of which was only waist deep at its deepest point, was a sight straight out of Kevin's "vision." A creature with the size, arms, and legs like a man, wearing what looked to be a brass colored armor breastplate, gray chain mail arm coverings, and a long red cape. On its arm it carried a small golden shield that gleamed in the sun, and around its neck hung a large medallion decorated with a stark black and white ying/yang symbol.

But that's not what surprised Kevin. What surprised Kevin was its face. This figure's head had big, bulging yellow eyes that were slightly raised on its head like that of a frog, and a mouth that was big enough to swallow a human head. It's skin appeared green and warty.

"Ohmygod!" Kevin yelped. "What is that?"

"Would you believe you sit next to him in English Lit?" Loony joked.

Just then, the strange green creature dropped under the water and Kevin realized the thing had been standing next to a gathering of other strange figures. From a distance, they looked like regular people; a collection of younger looking men and women, with a small boy and a dog with them. But though their appearance looked human, their dress was anything but normal. They had on what looked to be strange medieval costumes. Cloaks and capes of green and purple caught Kevin's eyes as he tried to make sense of the strange sight. And the small boy was wearing a helmet with horns. Thedog didn't look right either, if it _was_ a dog. And there was a scantily clad black girl speckled with gold jewelry...

"W-wait a minute...that's..." Kevin stuttered.

Suddenly, the strange figures plunged under the water, just like the frog creature before them. Kevin stood with mouth agape as the water where they were standing became still and undisturbed except for the summer breeze.

"Diana?" Kevin rasped in shock. "DIANA!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, kiddo. Calm down. You'll make a scene," Loony said.

Kevin whirled around to look at Loony; his face a twisted mixture of shock and confusion.

"Make a scene? Make...a...SCENE!" Kevin bellowed. "That...that was Diana Beckett! Where did she go?"

"She went back. They all did. Gotta admit, that's a little surprising..."

Kevin turned back to the lake to see nothing but the shimmering water. A strange of feeling of loss tugged at him, like that of a lost moment ofopportunity gone forever. "They're not coming back up."

"Probably some task left to complete. That's probably it," Loony said, in a distant tone that seemed to make Loony sound like he was talking to himself more than anyone else. "Yeah, that's it. That's how these things usually work."

"They'll...drown..." Kevin murmured, though haltingly, as if he really didn't believe it.

"What?" Loony yelped, turning his attention back to Kevin. "Naaa...they're fine. Well...relatively speaking. I mean, that fella in the armor with the big yellow eyes and bad skin looked a little under the weather, but otherwise..."

"That was Diana Beckett! Tell me! And...oh god! Was that all of them? Was that Sheila O'Brien? And Hank? Hank! He was dressed like Robin Hood! Why were they dressed like that? Where did they go?"

"Calm down, Kevin. You'll be no good to anyone if you go off the handle like this," Loony explained. "If you take it easy and let things ride out..."

Kevin shook his head. "No...no...this is nuts." He started to get dizzy again, and his head started to pound.

"Fine, Kevin. You go run and tell the office that your friends have drowned in the lake. Go on! Oooooowalawalawala!" Loony demanded.

Kevin simply stared at the ground. His expression looked like a person whose emotions were fighting with one another inside him. Moments that seemed like an eternity clicked by.

"You're not, are you?" Loony stated. "And you know why not? Because you know they're not down there. Is that right, kiddo?"

Suddenly, as if a calming tide of warm water had flowed through his churning emotions, Kevin felt his dizziness and headache subside. Loony'swords pierced through him, and sidestepping all logic, Kevin felt that it was true, and the knowledge seemed to calm him.

"They're not down there. I know it..." Kevin said thoughtfully as he looked back at the lake. "_How_ do I know it?"

"You know where to find the answer to that, kiddo."

When Loony said that, Kevin instinctively glanced at the Dungeons and Dragons ride a few hundred yards away, seemingly normal under theclear blue sky.

"Why can't you answer me, Loony? What are you?" Kevin asked, still looking at the ride.

"Me? I'm just a friendly totem to help guide the way, kiddo. Go on, Kevin. He's waiting for you." Loony's voice drifted off into the distance as he spoke, ending at barely a whisper as Kevin turned around to face him.

"Who's waiting for..." Kevin hushed as he saw Loony had vanished. "Loony? LOONY!"

"Ptth! Yeah! You're _loony_, ya dweeb!" a customer said responding to Kevin's outburst. Kevin looked around to see customers looking at him; his face red with embarrassment like he had swore in church. Apparently, the "spell" Loony had cast on their conversation had faded away.

Kevin took a deep breath and looked down at his hand. The flyer sat crumpled in the teenager's sweaty palm. He then looked back at the lake and reflected on what he saw. Diana wasn't under the water. She was gone. Against every logical explanation, Kevin knew this and in a way it calmed him, like floating with the current of a river instead of fighting it. His dizziness was gone. So was his headache.

"How _do_ I know it?"

"_You know where to find the answer to that, kiddo,_" Kevin replayed in his head.

He glanced back at the Dungeons and Dragons ride. As if in response, the dragonhead's eyes glowed with menacing rage. This time, however, Kevin seemed less fazed by it. The teenager straightened up, took a couple more deep breaths, and calmly crossed the bridge into Fantasy Land.


	9. Crossover Part II

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter 9- Crossover (Part II)**

Mr. Guile felt exposed as he followed Mr. Leonard into Loony Square, being so close to his goal, yet all but powerless in the middle of a crowd. To him, every fairgoer had the potential to be some block in his path, every movement a potential threat to his mission. Under his sunglasses, his eyes darted from side to side and up and down. He studied every person who approached them with paranoid scrutiny. As Mr. Leonard pointed out the information booth, Mr. Guile slowly clenched and unclenched his hands which to had become unpleasantly clammy.

As they approached the booth, Mr. Leonard took notice of Mr. Guile's appearance. Being decked out in black, his sunglasses, and how he seemed to visually scan the scene by moving his head to and fro, all reminded Mr. Leonard of one of those Secret Service agents President Reagan uses for protection. Mr. Leonard. It struck Mr. Leonard as a tad funny and odd looking, but he said nothing. It might annoy Mr. Guile, and that was the last thing on Mr. Leonard's mind. Mr. Guile had seen to that.

As they walked through the small crowd around the info booth, Mr. Guile's breathing became sharper, as he prepared for anything. Finally, the people parted, and Mr. Guile could see the person working the booth. Behind the counter was a young adult woman, smiling at a customer as she pointed directions to a mother and child.

A woman? But Mr. Leonard said it was a male who held this advertisement. Where was he? Mr. Guile's lips tensed into a slight snarl as he tried to mask his ferocious disappointment. Again, he was denied! To have his hopes dashed once again, even for only a short time, infuriated him. He took a deep breath to collect his thoughts as Mr. Leonard talked with the woman.

"Hi Tammi," Mr. Leonard greeted. "Isn't Kevin Reaves supposed to be here?"

"Mm-hmm. He asked me to cover for him for a bit. He had to take care of something."

"Oh...well, I guess we can..."

"Excuse me, miss," Mr. Guile interrupted as he stepped forward. "Did you see where this man went?"

"Uh...he said he was going to Fantasy Land for something."

"And you say he felt he had to take care of something? Did he mention what it was?" Mr. Guile asked in a sober voice, though Tammi noticed it had an underlining sinister resonance.

"D-didn't tell me what, but it seemed pretty important," Tammi answered Mr. Guile nervously.

"I...see," Mr. Guile droned.

Mr. Leonard sighed. "Well, maybe we can wait a..."

"Excuse me!" interrupted a boisterous voice from off to Mr. Leonard's left side. A chubby, red cheeked man wearing a loud flower shirt leaned onto the counter of the information booth while two small freckled children, one boy and one girl, bobbled energetically at his feet. "What time do the fireworks go off?" the man asked loudly.

"Yay! Fireworks!" the girl yelled.

"Boom!" the boy shouted.

"Uh...the fireworks are scheduled to take place right after the concert on the main stage tonight. Roughly around 9:30," Tammi politely answered.

"And where would be a good place to get a good look at em!" asked the man with all the excitement of opening day in one sweaty package.

"Well, anyplace on the fairway will give you a great view, I think," Mr. Leonard chimed in.

"That sounds great! Thank you very much!"

"You have a good time now," Mr. Leonard said with a wave of his hand as the group of three started to walk away.

"We sure will! How bout that kids, huh! Wanna see fireworks tonight?" the loud man asked.

"Yaaay!" the children screamed in unison.

As the group of fairgoers skipped away, Mr. Leonard let out a sigh as he smiled and shook his head. "Well, they're certainly into the spirit of things, aren't they? Sorry about that Mr. Guile. Again, maybe..."

Mr. Leonard stopped talking in surprise as he saw that Mr. Guile was gone.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Mr. Leonard asked.

"Wow. I dunno," Tammi said as she looked all around. "He was just here a second ago."

"Oh my...I wonder where he went? Maybe we should look for him. Maybe I should...I should..." Mr. Leonard stared blankly at the ground as if he had forgotten something important.

"Mr. Leonard, are you all right?" Tammi asked.

"Uh..yeah. Just lost track of thought for a second there. Huh...strangest thing," Mr. Leonard pondered.

"Say, who was that guy? I don't mind telling you he gave off some strange vibes. Is he a cop or something?" Tammi asked.

"He's...an antique salesman," Mr. Leonard said with a shrug.

* * *

Mr. Guile strolled toward the direction of Fantasy Land in a quick, even pace, happy to quietly slip away from his blubbering host and get back to the task at hand. He could have perhaps waited for the employee to return with the advertisement, but Mr. Guile's instincts told him to take the initiative. After listening to what the girl at the booth said, something inside him told Mr. Guile that the players were moving and there was no time to waste. 

Besides, Mr. Guile knew the perfect place to start looking as he noticed the large face of a dragon in the distance. And most important of all, Mr. Guile had a name. In his business, names were gold. Names were power. Names held secrets and revealed them. Names opened and closed doors.

And Mr. Guile had one to go by...

Kevin Reaves.

He was so close now.

* * *

All of sudden, for no reason, Kevin felt like his whole body was covered with spiders. As he quivered where he stood, by reflex he turned toward Loonyland. He glared across Loony Lake, somehow expecting to see some threat coming at him like some bully in a schoolyard, but he saw nothing unusual. He felt watched...threatened. He twitched uncomfortably in line as the feeling began to subside. 

The line for the Dungeons and Dragons ride was moving briskly as it snaked its way along the guardrail near the ride and out with Kevin near the middle of the fairway of Fantasy Land. Kevin watched as the ride setter... who at the moment, Kevin noticed, was not Reggie, but some other helper Kevin knew named George...moved the customers politely and efficiently into the coaster cars, and ran them straight into the dragon's mouth. One particular group of teenagers was especially loud and boisterous, screaming in mock terror as they entered the dragon's maw. The sound of their shrieks, no matter how insincere, made Kevin swallow hard. The ride's eyes of the dragon flashed menacingly.

"What are you doing?" Kevin heard from behind. Turning around, Kevin saw Reggie standing off to the side, out of the line, and looking at him accusingly.

"Oh. Hi. Uh...whaddaya mean?" Kevin asked, trying to sound innocent.

"We get off at work at the same time, right?" Reggie asked.

"Uh...yep."

Reggie looked up and down along the ride, as if he was looking for something he missed. "So, what are you doing in line?"

"Just...uh...taking a break," Kevin said. He said with a forced chuckle.

"You just ate lunch. Besides, I thought we weren't allowed to ride the rides when we're on the clock,." Reggie explained.

"I...uh...look, it's...kinda weird..." Kevin uttered.

"_You're_ kinda weird. What's gotten into you? Accusing me like that?" Reggie asked as he nodded toward Loonyland, referring to their earlier conversation. "I mean, why wouldn't I tell you if I saw Diana or not? What do I care?"

Kevin sighed. "Yeah. Sorry about that. Really. I just thought you might have saw Diana and those guys. I...need to get in touch with them." That was certainly true.

"What for? You'll see them in school tomorrow."

A sudden chill ran through Kevin wondering if _that_ was true.

"You didn't answer me though," Reggie continued. "What are you doing in line?"

"I just...I just need to check this ride out, okay? I've been curious about it all day long, and I'll go right back to work when I'm done."

"But you're working!" Reggie exclaimed. "You'll be in line for at least a half an hour... they're gonna see you, ya know. You're off in a couple of hours...why don't you ride it then?"

Kevin smirked a bit and glanced humbly at the other people in line who might have been listening to the conversation. If this was any other circumstance, Reggie's suggestion would make perfect sense, and Kevin knew it. But there was a force urging him on toward the ride he could neither explain nor deny, and he decided to take 'Loony's' advice and not fight it. He even wondered if it was like being addicted to cigarettes and needing to walk to the store to get that pack of smokes. Plus, now he could sense some vague threat drawing near.

And he had no way to explain this to his friend. It would be like explaining the color purple to a blind man.

Kevin leaned forward and spoke quietly, so the other people in line couldn't hear. "Look, it's just something I wanna do, okay? Don't tell anyone before I get on, please," Kevin pleaded.

"Oh, sure," Reggie said sarcastically. "What are you going to tell George up there when you get on the ride? You're kinda hard to miss, then."

"I'll...think of something," Kevin stated, hoping it was true.

Reggie's face had the mischievous look of someone planning to do something devious. Suddenly, Reggie grabbed Kevin out of line and started walking toward the start of the line where their workmate George was loading passengers onto the ride.

"What are you doing?" Kevin gasped as Reggie urged him along.

"Helping you out. Hey, I'm runnin' the ride, right? We'll make this nice and quick," Reggie said with a chuckle.

"You don't have to do this. I mean you really don't have to do this," Kevin nervously said.

"You kidding? Most exciting thing I've done all day!" Reggie said with reckless glee. "About time you did something once in you life that was  
against the rules! Fun, ain't it?"

"Yeah. A blast," Kevin deadpanned.

Reggie and Kevin trotted by the other fairgoers in line, with Kevin smiling apologetically as they nudged past the group of riders on the ride's platform who were set to be the next group to be loaded up on a coaster. George, the employee sitting the passengers, gave his fellow employees a puzzled look as they stood in front of him.

"Hey, George. We got a problem with the ride, and Kevin has to it check out. Right, Kevin?" Reggie blurted.

"Huh?" Kevin gasped, as he could feel blood rush to his face at the thought of being put on the spot like this. He responded with a quick, spiteful looking glance at Reggie, who was sporting a wildly insincere grin. A liar's grin.

"Uh...what kind of problem?" George asked meekly.

"The...uh...uh...smell," Kevin blurted. The teenager nearly winced at how insincere it sounded coming out of his mouth.

"Smell?" George repeated, his awkward bucktoothed mouth curling in surprise.

"Yeah! Smell! It smells! Smells awful in there!" Reggie barked. Kevin gave a quick elbow to his ribs to quiet him.

George stared blankly at them. He was about a year younger than both Kevin and Reggie and had a gauche face that unkindly suggested he was a tad slow.

"Um...we've been getting complaints of a smell emulating near the end of the ride and we were hoping that I could go in there and track it down." Kevin tried to keep his voice in a calm steady manner, trying to sound as sincere as possible.

"Really?" George said. "I ain't heard anythin'."

"That's why I'm going on it to find out what they're talking about. I have a hunch it's just a couple of riders who got put off by the smell of the steam. Just overreacting, y'know?"

George simply shrugged.

"But there's only one way to find out if they're telling the truth from where they're sitting, sooo..."

"So we gotta go ride the thing and check it for ourselves!" Reggie blurted.

Kevin turned to Reggie suddenly. "We?" he huffed.

"It'll just be a sec!" Reggie said as he helped himself into the coaster car. "C'mon, Kevin. We got a job to do! We gotta go smell Big T's armpits!"

Kevin gulped hard and grimaced as he saw Reggie get comfortable in the coaster car. He was nervous enough wondering about what, if anything, would happen when he rode into the dragon's mouth without the thought of Reggie along for the ride.

"Oh, Reggie. I think I can handle it from here. I don't want to bother you with this." Kevin projected an intense 'what the heck are you doing' leer while keeping his cheery voice.

"Oh, nonsense. Can't do such an important assignment alone, right?" Reggie said through a crafty smile.

George stared blankly, unaware of any hidden tension between the two friends.

Kevin found his mouth dry and he was sweating again. He felt trapped. What could he do? His mind raced like lightening, but he couldn't think of any way to have the ride to himself. Kevin sheepishly stepped into the coaster, staring blankly ahead deep into the jaws of the ride's mouth. His eyes gave a nervous inspection to the animated monsters visible from where he sat.

"You really shouldn't come with," Kevin said with sadness in his voice.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Reggie responded.

As the coaster car lurched toward the dragon's maw, Reggie could see Kevin jerk harshly in shock. He turned to see Kevin; his friend's face frighteningly pale and his lip slightly quivering, and his eyes opened wide staring ahead.

"Would you relax, man? For God's sake, it isn't that bad. What are you, five years old?" Reggie joked.

"Oh god, Reggie...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I got you into this! I didn't know how to tell you..." Kevin lamented with the passion of a final confession.

"What are you talking about?" was the last thing Kevin heard from Reggie before they entered the dragon's mouth; its eyes glowing and bellowing a theatric recorded roar welcoming them into themouth of Dungeon's and Dragons ride.

* * *

The roar was piercing to Mr. Guile, like the very earth and sky were raging in anger. The shock of the noise made the man in sunglasses plug his ears in shock and dismay as the other park goers near Loony Lake walked on by, oblivious of anything unusual. 

Mr. Guile quickly took his sunglasses off and peered across the man-made lake to view the Dungeons and Dragons ride, calling to his master to give him the strength to awaken his abilities again. Still, there was nothing to see. The ride looked normal enough, but Mr. Guile knew it had done something...something monumental.

"No! No! NO!" Mr. Guile yelled, regardless of the park goers who looked at him strangely. The thought of losing his target filled him with enough rage to engulf the entire world, and his rage would be cleansed... one way or another. He continued briskly toward the Fantasy Land bridge.

* * *

"'Come visit Loonyland! The place for food, rides, and family fun'" Kevin read. 

"What are you doing?" Reggie asked in response to seeing Kevin reading from the amusement park flyer in his hand.

"'Adults ...$9.95, children ages 6 and over...$5.95, children under six...FREE!'" Kevin read off as they passed by the first batch of impressive looking animated monsters.

Reggie snickered as they passed by the first batch of serpentine animated monsters spewing out their recorded howls in sync with their clockwork slithers and grunts. "You play hooky at work to get on this ride and you're not even looking!" Reggie chastised. But when Reggie glanced at Kevin again, it was as if he hadn't heard a word Reggie said. He kept reading; grasping the flyer tightly in his hands.

"...11 am to 8 pm...Friday and Saturday...11 am to 10 pm!"

"Hello? Roller coaster! Monsters! This is what you... WHOA!" Reggie jumped in surprise as he saw the flash of fire coming out of an animatronic dragon that came out of a cave in the wall of the tunnel. Reggie smiled as he felt the heat on his face.

"Wow...neat," Reggie said.

"...explore Pirate's Island! Ride the World Famous Zipper!..."

Reggie just shook his head disappointingly at his friend reading from an advertisement as they passed a group of humanoid monsters carrying swords and maces, gesturing threateningly as they coasted by. Reggie was surprised to find he was quite impressed at how real they looked, even the monsters with the most outlandish shapes. He saw giant lizard like men, and monsters with huge beaks and batwings, and one that had the snout of warthog.

Then, the ride started getting dark.

"Gimme a break, Kev. You gonna put that thing away for the big finish, or..." Reggie gulped as he looked over to Kevin. He was taken aback to see that the seemingly innocent flyer in Kevin's hands started to glow with a low orange light. He saw Kevin's face in rapture as he read rhythmically from the flyer.

"Seth tienarba ton sen tonabas...!" Kevin chanted.

"Wha-what...?" Reggie stammered.

"Eth dina zanda en Bahamut sen vize...Bahamut sen vassis.."

As the tunnel kept getting darker, the light emitting from the flyer became brighter and brighter, and flickers of what seemed to be light orange flame danced around the paper's edges. The flames flickered off past Kevin's fingers, but the teenager still held on.

"What the hell are you doing! I don't like this!" Reggie yelled.

"En tiez seth tienarba ton plena endien yon Vina...yon Gratatis!" Kevin recited loudly.

Reggie could do nothing but watch as the flames from the flyer erupted with the intensity of a raging campfire, though miraculously gave off no heat as they wafted around both teenagers as if they had a life of their own. He watched as Kevin continued what could only be called an incantation; the brilliance from the flyer now being the only light in the tunnel as the coaster neared the exit of the ride.

"What's happening?" Reggie shouted.

"Ontey! Ontey! COME ENTER THE REALM OF DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!" Kevin raged as the flyer erupted in a blinding flash that made Reggie scream. Then all was dark.

* * *

At once, a lost soul felt solid ground under his feet again as he stood underneath a star filled sky, though he didn't know why. 

The Silver Void was gone. For the briefest moment, he saw it twist and convulse, shaping itself with the violence of birth, but just as quickly found himself standing on, to his utter bewilderment, cold, hard blacktop. He squinted to try to view his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the darkness. He basked in wonder as the scene he viewed became familiar to him.

Then he heard the banging sound of a door opening, followed by a rumbling noise of metal on metal not too far from where he stood. He was startled but not fearful. Being curious, he moved toward the sound, his legs shifting briskly under his feet.

He smiled as he drank in the sensation. It had been so long since he could move like this.

* * *

Reggie had his eyes closed as they burst through the automatic exit door of the Dungeons and Dragons ride and rolled down the track to the loading area. Put off by the shock of what had just transpired, Reggie slowly opened his eyes to see Kevin staring blankly ahead, breathing heavily as if he had run a marathon. 

"Alright, dammit! What..." Reggie halted to dead silence once it registered what he was seeing.

It was night.

The sky, lit up by the mid afternoon sun just minutes before, was now filled with stars set against a black cloudless sky. The park was shut down; and not a customer or employee of Loonyland could be seen. The only light came from the occasional street light that lit up every 100 yards or so down the length of the fairway. As the coaster rolled to a halt, the silence of the park hung in the air with a potency of being a solid, material thing.

Reggie and Kevin said nothing. Slowly, zombie like, the teenagers exited the coaster car and stumbled out the exit faux castle stone arch of the ride; eyes wide in total bewilderment and mouths agape as they stared at the vacant amusement park.

They walked a few yards out into the fairway of Fantasy Land and turned back to look at the Dungeons and Dragons ride. The ride sat silently...lifelessly.

"AAAAAAAAAAA!'' Reggie screamed.

The sound of Reggie's scream shattered the silence and Kevin nearly jumped out of his shoes, making him lose his breath.

"Gah! Don't do that!" Kevin hissed.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Reggie screamed.

"Now, c-c-calm down Reggie..." Kevin encouraged haltingly. "We're okay...everything's..."

"Whatthehellhappenedtoeverybodywhere'sthesunwhyisitnighttimewhereintheworlddideverybodygoooooooo!" Reggie rambled.

Kevin didn't answer him. He looked in all directions for any sign of life. Reggie stopped his ranting when he observed Kevin was being surprisingly calm.

"You just gonna stand there...?"

"DIANNNAAAAAA! DIANA BECKEEEEEEEEEET!" Kevin yelled loudly. His voice echoed ominously in the empty park.

Reggie flashed a look of anger and doubt at Kevin. "What...the...HELL...are...you...DOING?"

"I think she might be here," Kevin answered.

"What makes you say that?" Reggie asked accusingly.

"I...I think the ride took her just like it took us... took us here. Wherever 'here' is."

"What does it look like! We're in Loonyland! Oh my god...we...we've been time warped!" Reggie barked.

Kevin took a deep breath, trying to absorb what was happening. "I..I don't think so," Kevin said with his voice expressing awe. "I don't think this is the park."

"I believe you are right, Kevin," said a voice from the shadows by the barrier surrounding the Dungeons and Dragons ride.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" the teenagers shouted.

"Who-who's there!" Kevin shouted as both teenagers reflexively tensed up; hands balled into fists.

"Oh, I am sorry, Kevin. I didn't mean to startle you. I am so happy to see you here."

Stepping out of the pitch-blackness and into the dim glow of the fairway streetlights walked a fit, clean shaven young man with short blond hair and handsome features. He greeted the teenagers with a warm smile.

"Who...who are you?" Kevin asked.

The man started to giggle. "Oh my...you don't recognize me! I must be young in the face too! This is incredible!"

Kevin shook his head. He recognized the accent. He had heard it just a couple of hours ago.

"Oh! And you! This is a surprise. You are Reggie, the one I saw running the ride earlier."

"Y-yeah," Reggie stuttered.

Kevin studied the man's face, and all at once he knew. Though the marking of time had changed him, there was no mistaking who Kevin was looking at. The confident eyes. The set and sturdy jaw line.

"Ohmygod..." Kevin whispered as if he was staring at Death itself.

Reggie turned to Kevin. "What? _What?_ What is it? Who is this guy?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. We've never been introduced," the man said as he held out his hand. "I am Josef Mueller."


	10. Welcome to Loonyland!

**Zeitgeist-Chapter 10- Welcome to Loonyland!!**

Everything had become darker as the creatures strolled out of the swirling gray mists and onto the hard stone ground; they wobbled slightly as their bodies took a moment to adjust to the slowness of physical movement and the tedious heaviness of gravity. Their artfully curved, jewel adorned armor rattled and clanked as the tall, gaunt humanoid looking creatures cautiously viewed the scene, letting their piercing, solid black eyes get used to darkness of night.

The creatures soon viewed a scene that was illuminated only by the glow of unearthly still silver gray fog behind them. Judging how it seemed to be a large opening in a long, 15 foot high wall that stretched far into the darkness in either direction, the three creatures knew they were looking at a gate, though it was a gate like none they had ever seen before. The top of the gate was not an arch, but was long and flat, only slightly more than twice the height of a man, with poles on top carrying long colorful flags hanging motionless in the still air. On the right side of the gate was a large, odd looking statue with birdlike features dressed in blue and red, gesturing at the creatures as if to welcome them. The face of the statue, to the creatures viewing it, looked happily deranged in a way that unsettled them. Walking over to the left side of the gate, the creatures saw a small structure made of stone brick, though a small section of the front had a window that seemed to be completely covered with horizontal strips of steel. Parts of this structure had painted figures of the statue, along with rounded, colorful shapes that the creatures found strange to their eyes. One of the creatures pointed up to markings on a part of the brick structure above the steel covered window. They devised it was lettering of some sort of a language unknown to them.

"SOUVENIRS"

The creatures snickered and spoke in a language that buzzed and clicked like a language written of electricity. Their long, thin, leathery faces were twisted in looks of caution, anger, and confusion. They argued for a time, as they tested the steel fence that covered the gate, tapping it with their long swords they carried with them. Looking in through the fence, they could make out other smaller gates, only waist high, and farther in, an open square with what seemed to be a statue of the same bird figure at the gate. One of the creatures grabbed and shook the long fence that covered the gate, watching the long steel bars that traveled horizontally from end to end of the gate ripple and sway with the vertical metal strips that held the curtain together. Again, the creature grimaced with confusion.

One of the creatures, which had armor and jewelry more preciously adorned than the other two, spoke in even, authoritative tones, gesturing them to fall back from the gate. As they did, one of the creatures spitefully swung his sword at the large bird statue as he walked by. With ease that seemed to startle the creature, the sword cleanly sliced the statues arm off. The arm fell to the ground and shattered into chalky debris. The creature that had ordered them to move back barked in outrage at the one who swung the sword, and gestured him to fall back at once. Taking backward glances at the gate, the three of them slowly strolled back into the mists, floating out of view.

* * *

Kevin and Reggie huffed and puffed as they tried to keep up with the tall blond haired man who had called himself Josef Mueller, who had all of a sudden started running down the moonlit fairway of what appeared to be Fantasy Land.

"Waaaaaoooooo!!" yelled the blond haired man triumphantly as he ran away from the teenagers.

"Wait! Josef! What are you doing? Come back!" Kevin yelled.

"Kevin...what's going on? Who is this guy?" asked Reggie between breaths.

"He's the old man...I was...wheeling around... the park!" huffed Kevin.

The surprise of what Kevin said made Reggie stop running. "_What_?" Reggie barked.

Meanwhile, Kevin kept running ahead while the man calling himself Josef had turned and was running back to them, still whooping for joy and rambling in German.

"Josef...would you slow down a bit?" Kevin asked.

"Kevin! Kevin, this is wonderful! I can run again! I can _breathe_ again!" Josef cheered.

"But...what's going on? How did you get here? How did _we_ get here?" Kevin asked as they drew closer together.

"Oh, my young friend," Josef said as he as he slowed to a halt in front of Kevin, trying to catch his breath. "I knew you would come!"

"Say what? You were expecting me?" Kevin gasped.

"And my word, Kevin. Look what you brought with you!" Josef exclaimed spreading his arms in a sweeping motion.

"Uh, you mean Reggie? Hey, wasn't my idea..."

"This! The park! In every detail, formed and molded from the ether! How did you do it, Kevin?"

"Me? Waddaya mean 'How did I do it?'"

"My word, could it be so easy? Is this some sort of second chance? The ride is right there," Josef said, more talking to himself than anyone else.

"Huh?"

"How long has it been since I left the park in the ambulance?"

"I...I dunno. Couple of hours," answered Kevin.

The tall blond man let out a sigh of amazement. "Astonishing. Only a couple..."

"Wait...wait a minute," Kevin blurted, waving his hand to interrupt Josef while shaking his head in confusion, as if he had just absorbed the absurdity of this entire scene at that very moment. "You were so...old! And now you look like you're 25."

"Hmm. I would guess," was Josef's reply.

"How can _that_ be?"

"Well, I'm not all that..."

"And why do I _know_ it's you?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, just a couple of hours ago you were an old man being driven to the hospital, and just a couple of hours later you just appear all young and one look at you and I'm thinking 'Wow, it's Josef.' I mean, you _can't_ be Josef!" Kevin's voice had a desperate tone to it, as if he was trying to convince himself of what he was saying.

"I know it's hard to believe, but I am," Josef said. "It is hard to explain. Of course, I think I need to explain _a lot _of things."

"You got _that_ right, buster!" yelled Reggie from behind Kevin as he stepped closer, finally collecting himself to join the conversation. "Can someone fill me in here?"

"Reggie," Kevin said. "This is going to sound weird, but..."

"Buddy, we passed _weird_ ten miles back.. this is Twilight Zone, okay? Do do DO do, do do DO do!" Reggie said in a musical rhythm.

"I'm sure if we calm down..." Josef suggested.

"I mean, it was daytime just a minute ago, right? Just before we got on the ride, right?" Reggie asked earnestly.

All Kevin could do to respond is offer a meek nod.

"And then we went on the ride, and then..." Reggie eyed Kevin with a suspicious look that made Kevin swallow hard. "Keviiiin, what did you _do_?" Reggie asked accusingly.

"Me? I don't...know..." Kevin sputtered as he felt blood rush to his face.

"You did _something_! You were...you..." Reggie paused a bit trying to put into words what he saw. "You let off some fireworks or something!"

"I don't know what came over me," Kevin claimed confusingly. "It was like I was dreaming."

"You still got some in your hand! Right there!" Reggie shouted as he pointed to Kevin's right hand. The mysterious advertisement flyer was folded up tightly into Kevin's fist.

Kevin unclenched his fist and started to unfold it slowly, unsure of any surprises. As he unfolded it, he quickly realized the paper had become bigger. Instead of an average 8x10 piece of paper, the flyer had become nearly poster-sized. The paper's texture had also changed from glossy to one of a rough, long worn document, giving the flyer to look of an ancient parchment.

"Good Lord, would you look at this?" Kevin said in a stunned tone. The teenager held out what was the "flyer" and tilted it to catch more of the light coming from the streetlight that was shining overhead nearby. Kevin was taken aback by what he saw: All the Loonyland artwork and slogans had disappeared, replaced top to bottom by strange black lettering and other shapes. The shapes mirroring the pattern Kevin noticed in the paper a couple of hours earlier in the park when he held it up to the sun.

"What? What is it?" Josef asked as he was looking at the paper over Kevin's shoulder.

"This is the paper you got in the mail, Josef. The flyer that told you about Loonyland."

Josef directed a hard glare at what had been the flyer and let out a heavy sigh. "Kevin, my lad," he said in a soft, reflecting voice. "I think we've found out what's behind all this."

Kevin and Josef stood there for a moment, letting the revelation sink in. Reggie dumbfoundedly glanced at the "flyer".

"What? WHAT?!" Reggie shouted

"Magic," Kevin declared in an even, resigned voice; holding up the "flyer" parchment and pointing to it.

"Magic?" Reggie repeated, his voice betraying how unsettled he was as he looked back and forth between Kevin and Josef.

"Magic," Josef said. There was a resonance of finality to his answer.

"Magic," Reggie repeated.

An uncomfortable silence settled upon them as they stood under the moonlight.

Josef spoke, "I'm sure if we all calm down and think this through, we can..."

"C'mon!" Reggie interrupted. " You're saying that thing in your hand zapped us through time and dipped this guy in the Fountain of Youth? Is that what you're trying to tell me, Kevin?" Reggie asked, his voice barely hiding his frustration.

"This...this isn't Loonyland," answered Kevin.

"You're right, Kevin," Josef chimed in, "A moment ago, this...all this...wasn't here. It was a ... void of silvery gray."

"What do you mean?" Kevin asked.

"Of course, we're in Loonyland! What does it _look _like?" Reggie barked, spreading out his arms.

"I can't tell you how I know, Reggie. It's just...I do. This..." Kevin looked up and down the fairway of the Fantasy Land he was standing in, "...isn't what I expected."

"So? What _were_ you expecting?" Reggie huffed.

Kevin let out a defeated sigh. "Look, a lot of weird things have been going on in the last couple of hours, okay? And I was told..." Kevin sputtered a bit as he thought better of telling of talking about taking advice from a six foot cartoon mascot. "I mean...I just had this feeling that if I rode the ride just once I could figure out what's going on. I didn't mean for you to come with, and I sure as heck didn't know about what _this _would do," Kevin explained as he waved the "flyer" in his hand a bit.

"You mean, you used that...that...whatever it is...and you didn't even know what it would do?" Reggie asked, pointing out the "flyer" in Kevin's hands. "What's the matter with you?!"

"I didn't plan on using it, Redge!" Kevin barked back. "Just...something came over me. I...I think _it_ used _me_!"

"Oh, you're under its _spell? _Is that it?" Reggie scoffed.

"I think you just got to the heart of the matter, Reggie," answered Josef. "Whatever has happened here involves this..._scroll_ I brought with me."

"_You_ brought it? It's _yours_? How'd Kevin get it?" Reggie asked, pointing at the object in Kevin's hands.

"He must have taken it when I had my attack this afternoon," Josef said. " I can't recall..."

Kevin held up his hands. "Whoa, wait a sec. I didn't take it. You must have slipped it to me during all the commotion."

"You mean when he was an old man," Reggie said, his voice betraying his doubts of this whole affair.

"Yes," Kevin replied.

"And it took you under its _spell_," Reggie said in the same mocking tone.

"Yes," Kevin replied in a sharper voice.

"And time zapped us here."

"Yes, well...sort of," Kevin shrugged.

"And made him 25," Reggie pointed at Josef.

"Yes," Josef responded, with such a resonance of certainty, Kevin glanced curiously at the German.

All three of them stood in silence as long seconds ticked by. Reggie looked back and forth between Kevin and Josef a few times, like he was waiting for either one of them to step forward and yell "April Fool!" and put an end to all this. Finally, Reggie simply turned and started marching away toward the direction of the Loony Lake Bridge.

"Wait! Where you going?" Kevin asked.

"What's it look like?" Reggie said, not looking back. "You and _Ponce De Leon _can stay here and play with your witchcraft all you want. Me? I'm going home!"

* * *

_For countless years, the Box had remained under the earth, put there to be hidden and forgotten. But such was not its nature, for its nature was to connect. To prisons for some, to a liberation to others. A gateway to the Far Away Places. _

_It would not be forgotten. It only needed a sign to make it stir. _

_Far above the Box, on the surface, young teenage boy dressed in green held his nose while he uttered an incantation over his floppy cone hat._

_"Abracadabra_

_Quick as a wink_

_Conjure me something_

_To fight Eric's stink!"_

_The magical energies awoke the object buried many yards beneath the young boy's feet . It had sensed his presence. A presence to help it fulfill its nature. It could not be hidden any longer. It would not be forgotten._

_The ground began to shake._

_It had heard its call to fulfill its purpose, and it would answer._

* * *

"_I'm sorry. This number cannot be completed as dialed..."_

"Stupid phone! What's the matter with this thing?" Reggie barked as he slammed down the receiver.

A few paces away, Kevin and Josef were standing near the castle wall decor of the Dungeons and Dragons ride. Kevin sighed as he watched his friend's frustration in the nearby phone booth. He turned and caught Josef grinning at him.

"What's so funny?" Kevin asked.

Josef had to hold in a laugh. "You are taking this _very_ well. Much better than your friend over there."

"Yeah, well, my head wasn't on straight to begin with. You think this is weird? Try having a conversation with a 6-foot cartoon bird," Kevin chuckled.

"_What?" _Josef asked in surprise.

"Never mind." Kevin sighed and his shoulders slumped a bit. "A lot of things have been happening to me since you got carted off, Josef. I get these weird...feelings.. whenever something happens. I don't know why...probably has to do with this...thing." Kevin flapped the scroll in front of Josef's face

"Like what?"

"_Like_ I saw them."

Josef's posture straightened up in response. "You ... saw _who_?"

"Diana, Hank,...Sheila O'Brien I think. Out there standing in the middle of the lake."

"_You saw them?"_ Josef inquired with immediate vigor.

"For a few seconds, then they disappeared under the water, and they didn't come back up."

"They didn't..." Josef shook his head like he didn't comprehend.

"I think they went back where they came from. I don't know how the heck I _know_ that, but I do."

"Oh?" Josef blurted nervously. Kevin could see Josef's excited face becoming withdrawn.

"At least, I think it was them...they were dressed weird," Kevin declared. "Hank Greyson was dressed like Robin Hood. And Diana had on this bikini outfit with a lot of gold jewelry on her, and..." Kevin stopped talking as he noticed Josef's eyes growing wider and then look away. "Josef?"

Sadly, Josef lowered his head and closed his eyes.

"You know what I'm talking about, don't you?" Kevin asked pointedly.

Unwilling to look directly at Kevin, Josef nodded his head.

"You know where they are," Kevin accused in a calm, even voice.

"_Ja_," Josef said.

"This all involves them, doesn't it? That ride took them just like it took us." Kevin gestured at the Dungeons and Dragons ride behind them.

Josef sighed disappointingly. "I was hoping you were going to tell me that they made it back. That they made it home."

Kevin shook his head in disbelief. "But...you knew it was going to happen before it happened!" Kevin huffed. "I mean, how did you know?"

Josef looked at Kevin. "Because it happened to me. Because I was there with them," Josef said in a resigned voice.

"_What?" _Kevin yelped. "How can...?"

Suddenly, Reggie came charging out of the phone booth, his hands flailing. "Fine! Just perfect!" Reggie shouted angrily.

Josef and Kevin turned their attention towards Reggie, who stood there simmering. "Stupid phone's not working," Reggie grunted. "I tried calling my dad, my friends, ...even the _time_, and it wouldn't give it to me."

"That's because there's no one to call, Redge," Kevin stated. "This isn't Loonyland."

Reggie grimaced. "Coulda fooled me, pal!"

"It's a ghost," Josef said plainly. He stopped leaning again the wall, and strolled over to Reggie. "It's a ghost of Loonyland."

Reggie scoffed a bit, while Kevin's features showed concern as he reflected on Josef's words.

"It's a ghost," Josef repeated. "Like me."

"What?" Kevin and Reggie said in unison.

"This...body. It isn't real," Josef said while spreading his arms to present himself.

"I don't...don't..." Kevin stuttered.

"Think, Kevin! I didn't go on the ride. What's left of me is back in the real world," Josef explained.

Unconvinced, Reggie rolled his eyes and started to march away.

"Where you going?" Kevin asked.

"I'm getting my stuff out of my locker, and I'm going home," Reggie said, not looking back.

"_Reg-gie_, wait a minute," pleaded Kevin, but it was no use. Reggie kept marching away. Kevin apprehensively looked back at Josef. With a defeated groan, Kevin shrugged and turned to follow, leaving some distance between them, considering the mood Reggie was in; he and Josef kept pace a few yards back, walking side by side.

None of them said a word as all three crossed over the Fantasy Land Bridge of Loony Lake. Finally, breaking the silence of nothing but the sound of their footsteps, Kevin cleared his throat harshly and turned to Josef.

"_Where are they_?" Kevin said intently.

Josef sighed and took a deep breath, like the answer was going to be long and important.

"I mean, at first, I thought they'd be here, but...something tells me they're not," Kevin continued.

"No, they're...somewhere else," Josef said.

"Where?"

Josef looked away from Kevin, as if not to be distracted. "It's called..._The Realm_." Josef's voice underscored the words with a sense of awe and dread.

"_The Realm_? That's it? Like 'Realm of Dungeons and Dragons' _Realm?" _Kevin asked.

"_Ja_. At least, that is what they called it when I met them there. Diana, Presto...all of them."

"Wait, wait...you _talked_ to them?" Kevin asked, shaking his head.

"Or _will_ talk to them. Depends on your point of view."

"Okay, okay...just hold it a sec," Kevin sputtered. There was a small moment of silence as Kevin tried to organize his thoughts as they walked. "This is some sort of time travel screw-up, isn't it?"

Josef couldn't help but smile as the teenager thought it through. "I'm afraid so, Kevin. I'm afraid so."

Kevin' face brightened, like he had come to some revelation. "That story you were telling me about! When you were shot down over Poland!"

Josef's smile became broader. "Very good, Kevin."

"I mean, I thought you were telling me some weird religious near death experience or something, but that's what you were talking about, wasn't it?"

Josef simply nodded.

"So, Diana and them got sent back in _time_, too?"

Josef's brow furrowed slightly. "Interesting question. I believe it would be more accurate to say I was brought _forward_ through time, though..." Josef looked up at the stars for a moment. "'Forwards', 'backwards'...who's to say if these terms mean anything under the circumstances. I mean, if it's true what you said about what time I was put in the ambulance..." Josef looked questioningly at Kevin.

"Uh, yeah...just a couple of hours ago. But what about...?"

"A couple of hours to you," Josef interrupted. "I have been in this strange reality for six days."

"Six days? You've been in this place for six _days_?" asked Kevin, taken aback.

"This place wasn't here until you arrived Kevin. Before you arrived on the ride, I was...floating...weightless...in a silvery gray mist. Ghostly light seemed to come from everywhere, and...nowhere. I was alone."

Kevin just stared at Josef awkwardly.

"I floated for days, but...it didn't feel like days. I only know the passing of time because I have this." Josef tapped the expensive gold watch on his wrist. Just like the one Kevin saw him wear when he was wheeling him around in his wheelchair.

Kevin just then realized how strangely convenient it was to have Josef wearing the same color and style of clothes he had worn in the park just hours before.

"I felt no hunger, no thirst...only a little tired," Josef continued. "And the feeling of my broken body somewhere...and that I was waiting. Waiting . And then...whoosh!" Josef threw up his hands.

"Huh?" Kevin yelped.

"The gray mist seemed to churn and swirl and shape itself! It was a violent hurricane all around me, but I felt no wind. The swirls of smoke shaped themselves with the groan of the pain of birth! And then..." Josef paused, holding out his hands. "And then I find myself standing in the middle of Fantasy Land. Then you rolled in."

"Are you telling me this...twin Loonyland didn't exist until we got here?" Kevin asked pointedly.

"You are the reason all this is here Kevin! This whole park is here because of you!" Josef stated grandly.

A few paces ahead of Josef and Kevin, Reggie could be heard clicking his tongue and shaking his head in disbelief, but said nothing as he briskly walked ahead.

"Me? I'm nobody! It's...it's gotta be _this_ thing!" Kevin countered, shaking the scroll.

"Perhaps," Josef said with a shrug.

"Wait a minute!" Kevin snapped. "Enough about this place, what about Diana and the rest of them? Where is this 'Realm'?"

Josef sighed softly before answering. "The Realm is...another world. Another dimension. Another reality...however you might want to call it. From what I understand...from what those brave children told me, it is a land of wonder and danger, populated with...I guess you would have to say 'normal' people, sharing the world with creatures straight out of the stories of myth and legend."

"'_From what you understand_?" Kevin questioned.

Josef cocked his head to one side and shrugged. "I wasn't there very long, Kevin. Only a few hours at most. Most of what I learned of that world came from talking to Diana and her friends around a fire, eating crocodile eggs."

"Ewww..." Kevin blurted.

"It's true. But what I did see was extraordinary! I saw a flock of migrating pegasi...horses with wings...and the small child, Bobby, he had a small pet unicorn..."

"_U-ni-corn_?" Kevin repeated. "Come on!"

"And your friend Presto could do amazing things with this magic hat he wore!"

Kevin was so taken back by Josef's last statement, he stopped walking just as they reached the entrance of the Lazer Tag Arena near the end of the Loonyland fairway. "Magic hat? Did you say _magic ...hat_?"

"_Ja_. It was this green cone hat. He waved his hand, said a magic verse, and pulled out food for all of us. Dishes too. He was the group's magician, you see?" Josef asked excitedly.

"Oh, of course!" Kevin agreed sarcastically. He started walking again, shaking his head in disbelief.

Josef let out an amused chuckle. "It's true Kevin. You see, at the time I saw them, each one of them represented a...character? What's the word..?"

Kevin shrugged.

"An archetype. That's the word."

"What does that mean?" Kevin asked.

"Each one of them was ...designated a certain role. For example, Presto was a magician. Hank, who as you said was dressed like Robin Hood, was called a 'Ranger.' He had a bow which could unleash bolts of lightening."

"Uh-_huh_," Kevin said sharply.

"Diana had a magical staff, which could extend to any length. She was an Acrobat."

"Don't you mean gymnast? I mean, she..."

"Then there was Sheila...her name was Sheila, right? She was given a cloak, which made her invisible. A Thief, she was called."

"A Thief? _Sheila_? She doesn't..."

"And the little boy, he wore this awkward looking helmet with horns attached, like the Vikings were said to have worn. He had this magical club that shook the ground when he struck it," Josef interrupted again. He spoke his words as though they couldn't escape from his mouth fast enough. Kevin judged Josef had wanted to tell someone about this for quite a long time. "They called him a Barbarian. Can you believe this? A boy not even ten years old being labeled a _Barbarian_? I guess I can see why, though...heh...he had quite a temper. Now, who am I forgetting? Ummmm..."

Kevin recalled the group in his head. "Uh, you mean Eric? Eric Montgomery?"

"The Cavalier!!" Josef stated triumphantly. "How could I forget him? He wore a suit of armor and carried a magical shield. "

Kevin's eyes bulged and he coughed on his own breath. "Suit of armor?"

"Yes."

Kevin grimaced a bit, picturing the froglike creature in his head. "This armor...wasn't sort of colored golden yellow, was it?"

"Why yes! You mean..."

"And did he wear a long red cape?" Kevin asked, again with a look on his face that was half amusement, half disgust.

"Yes! You did see them!"

"I...well, if that was Eric, he's not having one of his better days." Kevin couldn't fight off the grin that came across his face. Josef looked at him strangely, wondering what the teen found so funny.

* * *

_Eric's five friends had to contain their laughter as he yelped in surprise and flopped off Zandora's Box and onto the ground. Exasperated, Eric looked up at the gray haired, dwarfish figure dressed in red sitting on the Box. He looked down at the Cavalier with a wide, pleasant grin on his face. _

_"Can't you ever knock before entering?" Eric asked._

_"We put the Box right where you told us, Dungeon Master," said Diana the Acrobat, pointing to a spot on the__ weathered __map in her hands._

_"Yeah," continued Sheila the Thief, __"right __under the shadow of that giant...skull?" _

_And, as she spoke, the large __gray __mountain with peaks of enormous human skulls faded from view. _

* * *

"Where did the mountains go?" Reggie asked, perplexed at the eerie scene in front of him.

Looking through the gaps in the steel curtain of the front entrance of Loonyland, one would expect to see a large empty parking lot. Instead, all Reggie could see from the front gate was fog. Fog thicker than any he had ever seen. Fog thick enough to hide anything more than 20 feet away from the front gate.

And not only was it thick and dense, but Reggie noticed it had a luminescence all its own. The very fog itself seemed to give off its own ghostly gray light. Reggie could not see any swirls or eddies of mist in the wind. There was no wind. It was an unmoving, all encompassing wall of mist that seemed to engulf anything past the gates of Loonyland.

Reggie's curiosity had gotten the better of him when he plodded toward the employee locker room a few paces ahead of Kevin and Josef. He had noticed the closer the group got to the front entrance of Loonyland, the more the stars and moon up above seemed to be hazed over by mist. By the time they had reached Loony Square, the sky had all disappeared, replaced by an abrupt, unmoving fog. Distracted by this, Reggie turned away from going to the employee locker rooms and went to view the parking lot.

A parking lot which could not be seen.

"Jeez," Reggie sighed. "Look at that fog. Can't see a thing."

"The gray void," Josef said in a hushed tone as he came up from behind. "All of what was here until you two arrived."

"You mean you were in that fog for six days?" Kevin asked, coming up the rear.

"_Ja_. Floating in it, actually. Not knowing up from down, lost in a sea of gray _nothing_."

Reggie clicked his tongue in annoyed disbelief.

"That must have drove you nuts," Kevin stated.

"One would think so. I cannot say why it didn't. Or why I did not feel hunger, or thirst..."

"Well, you _are_ a ghost," Kevin said with a wry smile.

"Hmph," Josef huffed.

"You guys are both nuts!" Reggie exclaimed. "It's just fog!"

"Lad, this fogis what this place is," Josef proclaimed in a stronger tone, trying to drive the point home to the teenager. "Think of this Loonyland as..."

"_This _Loonyland!" Reggie repeated bitterly.

"This Loonyland...as a floating island in an endless gray sky."

"Oh yeah? Why could I see the mountains when I was in the middle of the midway, huh? What about the moon and the stars? Did we suck all them through that stupid ride too?" Reggie retorted.

Josef shrugged. "An illusion, perhaps?"

"Look, can we just get someone to unlock this gate so we can get the hell out of here?"

"I don't think there's anyone to unlock it, Redge," Kevin said. "Besides, there's no place to go."

"I'll just see for myself, okay? I'll climb the fence if I have to," Reggie said. He then looked out into the endless mist and shook the gate in frustration, while Kevin and Josef started slowly walking back into the park. Suddenly, something grabbed Reggie's attention.

"Nobody here, huh?" Reggie asked mockingly. "Then who did _that_?" Reggie motioned Josef and Kevin to look the outside of the gate.

On the ground to their left they could see a cheery, colorful looking statue of Loony looking out toward the mists. At its feet were the chalky remains of its arm scattered along the ground.

"Someone had to do that, right?" Reggie claimed.

"That_ is _odd," Kevin said. "I mean, maybe it just fell off...like it wasn't...made right or something."

"Yeah, right. Someone yanked it off...I know it,"" Reggie said. "Look, you got the key to the locker rooms, right? Just lemme get out of this outfit and get my stuff."

Kevin sighed and nodded. Kevin figured having Reggie get out of his uncomfortable 'happy suit' might make him calmer. They all started walking toward the dressing rooms.

Josef paused, looking at the abused statue just outside the gate. A look of grave concern was etched across his now youthful face.

"I don't think that piece was yanked off," Josef spoke to himself. "It was _cut_."

"Whatever," Reggie said in a huff. "Kev, you got that key to the locker rooms?"

Kevin simply nodded and handed the key from his pocket and handed it over to Reggie. Snapping it from Kevin's hand, Reggie quickly turned and trotted toward the locker room entrance, leaving Josef and Kevin to slowly stroll in the same direction.

"You're welcome," Kevin said under his breath. He then looked at Josef. "Y'know, usually he's a real nice guy."

"He's scared. He's scared more than he wants to admit," Josef stated.

"Hey, I'm scared, okay?" Kevin proclaimed.

Josef's lips formed a sly grin. "I think you're enjoying this."

"What?! No way!" Kevin barked.

"Well, a part of you is," Josef answered back.

"That's stupid! I mean, yeah it's exciting, but..." Suddenly Kevin was at a loss for words.

Josef's grin grew wider.

Kevin then heard the door from the men's locker room open and close.

"Maybe he'll relax if he gets out of his uniform. He hates that thing," Kevin said.

"_Ja_. Good idea," Josef nodded.

"Soooo...," Kevin uttered. "You met Diana and those guys in another dimension, right? How did that work? Or did you fly your plane into another roller coaster?" Kevin asked with an amused smirk.

"_Nein_," Josef said with a chuckle. "I was brought to that dimension by something called the 'Crystal of Chronos, if you can believe it."

"Oh, that fits."

Josef quickly gave Kevin a confused glance.

"Well, y'know, 'Chronos', time, time travel...it fits," Kevin said with a shrug.

"Hmph. Yes, and it worked, too. It was this huge glowing sphere set atop this stone pyramid. It could rip open the very air itself, opening a hole in time where I flew my Messerschmitt_."_

"Why you?" Kevin asked.

"Well, it was used to bring other people from other time periods, but apparently they weren't considered very useful. Except Stanley Baker, of course."

"Baker...? Wait...you mentioned him! Isn't he the guy you said helped you make your money?"

"_Ja_. And he did, in a way. You see, Kevin, I did not just happen to fall into another dimension. I was brought there. Brought there with the most evil of purposes in mind."

"Really? Why? By who?" Kevin asked.

"I was brought through time to change it. Stanley Baker was a pilot, you see...kidnapped by the Crystal with his plane just as I was. But Stanley was from the future."

"You mean like Diana and me? Like, from _now_?"

"Ahem. Actually..." Josef stuttered, as if he was guarding his words. "Let's just say _my _future. Along with his F-15 Fighting Eagle. Quite a remarkable machine. A machine I was supposed to deliver to the Third Reich."

"You mean take it back in time with you? Whoa!" Kevin reacted.

"Exactly. Could you imagine what Hitler and his scientists could have done with such a machine? I shudder to think of it."

"But whose plan...?"

"I was to fly it back through the rift of time...back to my country. To win the war for the Reich. But to do so, by some witchcraft I could not even fathom, I was given the flying skills of Lt. Baker to help fly it. Heh. A gross miscalculation."

"But..."

"Because along with all of Lt. Baker's skills, I also received his memories as well. And I could see that the world, even my very homeland was not dragged into the abyss, but that a bright future lie ahead! How could I change that? Why would I want to? Just for the petty purpose of destroying Diana's future? I couldn't do it. Not after seeing what I've seen. Not after meeting them."

"What does this...?"

"So instead, I took the plane and crashed it into the crystal, destroying it as I parachuted back into the time rift, hopefully sealing it forever."

"Wait, wait, waaaaaait a second!" Kevin huffed. "You said you were kidnapped through time. By who? Who was planning all this.?"

"A vile being whose very image I have tried to put out of my mind for nearly thirty years," Josef said. He grimaced, as if his very words disturbed him. "An evil being named..."

"Hey Kevin!" Reggie shouted from the darkness of the locker room doorway. "How do you turn on the lights in here? I can't see nothin'."

"They're not on?" Kevin asked in a high voice.

"No."

"Umm...lesse if I got the key for that...ummm..." Kevin uttered as he reached for his pockets again.

All of a sudden, the overhead light above the men's locker room door flashed to life, followed by the surrounding overhead lights illuminating their corner of Loony Square.

"Aaa!!" Reggie jumped. "Hey...hey!! Not funny!" Just then, Reggie noticed Kevin and Josef standing in the middle of the square. "Hey...who did that?"

Kevin instinctively looked for someone at the control panel on the side of the building that controlled the lights of that section of Loony Square, but no one was there.

"How did that...?" Kevin uttered. At that moment, he felt a wave of dizziness, and his senses left him, as if his perceptions for the briefest of moments had left his own body. Kevin wobbled on his feet.

"Watch out," Josef barked as he grabbed Kevin to steady him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah...yeah...I'm fine," Kevin answered.

"The lights...they...they must be on a delayed timer or something," Reggie said unconvincingly. "Yeah...that's it." After a slight pause, he swallowed hard and then went into the men's locker room.

"Kevin, are you sure you're all right?" Josef asked again.

"Yeah, I just felt...a rush."

"Maybe you should sit down," Josef said while leading him over to a nearby bench.

As Kevin sat down, he leaned forward putting his hands to his face. The scroll was still crumpled in his left hand. "Oy. I need aspirin. Got any aspirin?"

Josef instinctively checked his pockets. "Actually, no. I had some prescription pain killers in my pockets at the ride, but now they're gone."

Kevin rubbed his temples and moaned.

"Isn't that odd? I'm wearing the same clothes, same shoes, same watch. I even have my wallet," Josef said while tapping the side of his gray slacks. "If whatever happened to me would bring me these things, why not the pills?"

Kevin simply shrugged. His head was throbbing too hard to think upon other mysteries.

"Is there any aspirin in there?" Josef gestured toward the locker room building.

Kevin looked up. "Huh? Oh, right. There's this first aid cabinet..." Kevin started to get up, but Josef put his hand on his shoulder.

"I'll get it," Josef said. "Where is it?"

"Umm...walk in, walk past the first row of lockers and you should see it on the wall. White cabinet."

Josef nodded, then walked off into the locker room

And so, Kevin was alone.

He unwrinkled the scroll and studied it for a moment. He marveled at the odd shapes and swirls that appeared on the page, just like the patterns he saw in the flyer, only this time the patterns were ink black. Although the paper looked browned and worn and old, the lettering on the scroll was still crisp and legible. Kevin even began to wonder about the paper. To Kevin, it felt sturdier, like an animal skin of some kind. Kevin tried to make a slight tear in the side of the scroll with his fingers, but couldn't manage it. He then tried to use his teeth, but the scroll wouldn't tear at all.

Kevin sighed, dropping his hands to his sides and leaning back on the bench. With Josef and Reggie out of sight, it finally dawned on him how _quiet_ it was. No people, of course. But also no wind, no birds, no crickets...nothing. Everything was so quiet and still, nothing like the Loonyland Kevin knew, and he found himself feeling irritated.

Kevin also took note of howdarkthis Loonyland was. He knew when Loonyland shuts down for the night, some lights are left on around the park – for security reasons. Some signs from the rides would still be lit at night so they could be seen by cars driving by. But this Loonyland was much darker. In fact, if it wasn't for the moon and the overhead streetlamps on the midway...

Kevin stood up alertly when he suddenly realized the midway lights that had lit their walk from the Dungeons and Dragons ride were turned off.

"When did that happen?" Kevin asked himself. He shook his head as he wondered if there was someone _else _here, playing with the lights.

He walked forward, out of the glow of the lights that werelit around the locker room building, to get better look at the park. All the lights that had lit the path from the Dungeons and Dragons ride to Loony Square had been turned off. Loonyland was lit only by moonlight, which somehow to Kevin made it look all the more foreboding.

As he looked around, Kevin took note of one of the rides of one of near Loony Square called the Caterpillar. It was a simple ride, where the rider would sit in a roller coaster running in a tight circle linked up to a center axis, like a merry go round. Also, once in a while a green and yellow tarp built into the side of the coaster cars would unfold and cover the passengers, giving the ride its namesake. It made the coaster look like a giant caterpillar. The ride had a templed roof covering the whole structure, and Kevin could barely make out any of the actual ride in the moonlight.

Kevin noted how plain the building looked. While the park was running, it was one of the more colorful rides in the park – with its brightly colored green and yellow housing structure and running lights practically everywhere. And once more there was music. Very loud music. When they ran the ride, the operator would pipe in rock n' roll music, all the while asking the passengers "Do you want it louder? Do you wanna go faster?!" Kevin smiled at the thought. He wished he could see the Caterpillar in all its glory now.

Suddenly, Kevin felt a strange warmth travel through his body. At first, it felt like a simple head rush, but then, in a way he found hard to understand, he felt detached from his body, like he had stepped outside himself for the briefest of moments.

Every light on the Caterpillar ride fired to life. The floodlights on the roof, the running lights on the inside ceiling and the running tracks, the lights on the cars themselves, and even the lights lighting the small bits of lawn growing on the outside of the structure, were all turned on. Kevin jumped in surprise at the brilliance of the ride suddenly come alive.

Then, Kevin stood dumbfounded as he heard the motors of the ride hum to life and the coaster start to roll. Just as it started up, music began blaring over the speakers placed on the ceiling of the Caterpillar's housing. The rock and roll song echoed across Loony Square.

"_Now in the street there is violence  
__And - and a lots of work to be done  
No place to hang out our washing  
And - and I can't blame all on the sun..." _

Kevin quickly shot a glance at the ride's control booth, but no one was there. The ride just went on its own, going round and round with no controller or passengers. Then, without warning, the ride's tarp unfolded covering the roller coaster cars, making the ride look like its namesake, a big circular green and yellow caterpillar. Kevin shook his head in disbelief. He knew operating the tarp could only be done manually from someone at the controls, but there was no one there!

"Stop it!" Kevin yelled in frustration. At that moment, he felt the same rush again, only warmer and more pronounced. He could feel a flow of heat on his face, and his feet seemed to lose all sensation. The sounds and sights of the ride seemed to dance in his mind, as he heard buttons being pushed and lights clicking off.

At that moment, the Caterpillar shut down. All the lights went dark and the music speakers went dead silent. The only sound to be heard was the metal to metal squeal of the ride grinding to a halt on its circular track.

"What's going on?!" Reggie yelled as he came running up from behind Kevin, with Josef closely after him.

Kevin shuddered as Reggie's loud voice snapped him back to reality. Instinctively Kevin wiped his sweaty forehead with the sleeve of his uniform as he steadied himself on his shaky legs.

"Are you trying to be funny, Kev? You wanna go play on the ride's now?!" Reggie accused as he smacked Kevin in the shoulder with the back of his hand.

Kevin simply stood and stared at the ride.

"Reggie," Josef intervened. "How could he do anything standing _here_?"

Reggie made a quick glance at the ride's empty control booth.

"He's run every ride in this stupid park! He'd know...he'd know how!" Reggie accused.

"He's right," Kevin said coldly. "I did it. I started it up."

Josef looked awkwardly at Kevin, then at the ride, then back to Kevin.

"How? Why?" Josef asked.

Kevin kept studying the Caterpillar. His eyes narrowed. His jaw clenched.

Without warning, the lights of the ride blazed on and the rock n roll music blared as the ride once again roared to life. Motors churned as the Caterpillar rolled on in its circular path. Reggie leapt in surprise so hard, he nearly fell over.

"Gaaah!" Reggie yelped. "Who's doing that?!"

"I don't see anyone at the controls," Josef observed. "Is there anyplace else you can control the ride?"

"I dunno. Never seen these things run by remote control," Reggie claimed.

As Reggie and Josef talked, Kevin just stood in silence. He stared at the ride, the circle of coaster cars going round and round, speakers pounding out music, the lights dancing. He saw them, heard them.

_He felt them_.

"Kevin, are you all right?" Josef asked as he saw Kevin nearly mesmerized by the ride in front of him.

Kevin's only reaction was to look down at the parchment, now wrinkled and sweaty in his hand. He gripped it tightly and looked back up at the ride, his eyes burning with determination.

"Stop," Kevin said quietly.

The music stopped dead. All the lights of the ride turned off. The coaster cars started grinding to a halt.

Both Josef and Reggie gasped. They slowly turned to stare at Kevin, who was still focused on the ride.

"Go," Kevin said.

The lights of the ride popped on, and the music erupted. The ride itself started to speed up again.

"Stop."

As commanded, the ride went dead. The speakers go quiet and everything went dark.

After a long and uncomfortable silence, Kevin exhaled a deep, draining sigh. He wiped his brow, which was covered in sweat. He then turned to Reggie and Josef, who were just staring at him in shock. Kevin gave a weak, embarrassed shrug.

_"Whoa," _Reggie sighed.


	11. Difficulties

****

Zeitgiest

Chapter 11- Difficulties

Kevin, Josef, and Reggie stood about thirty yards from the Merry Go Round, which was sitting motionless with nothing lighting the area except the soft glow of the moon overhead. The group looked at each other, then with a hard swallow Kevin stepped forward in front of the other two by a couple of paces. Holding the scroll in his left hand, he used his right finger and thumb and pointed his mock "gun" at the ride.

"Bang," Kevin said softly as he twitched his hand back in a fake recoil.

All at once, the Merry Go Round fired to life. All the ride's lights lit up and its organ grinder music started to loudly echo across the park. The carousel began to spin and its individual animal stations started to bob up and down. Once again, like the Caterpillar, no one was riding the ride, nor was anyone at the controls.

"Bang," Kevin said again.

All the Merry Go Round's lights turned off and the music went dead. The ride began to slow to a stop.

"Bang."

On cue, the lights and music popped back on as the ride begins to speed up again.

"Bang."

The music and lights go dead as the ride slows down.

"Bang...bang...bang..." Kevin kept repeating in ten second intervals. And every time he did, the ride continued its cycle of starting and stopping at Kevin's command.

"All right, that's enough!" Reggie yelled as he threw up his hands. "We get the damn point!"

Kevin shook his head as if he had been awoken from a trance. As the ride slowed to a complete stop, Kevin wiped the sweat from his forehead with the sleeve of his uniform. He then sheepishly turned around to look at his two companions. He gave a light shrug.

Reggie and Josef simply stared, dumbfounded, changing glances back and forth between Kevin and ride. Reggie quickly walked around the ride a few dozen yards to get a better look at the control booth, only to see no one was there. He flashed Kevin a look of anger as he walked back.

"How are you doing that?!" Reggie asked bitterly.

Kevin simply shrugged and shook the scroll in front of him.

"Screw that thing!" Reggie yelled. "How are _you_ doing it?!"

"I don't know!" Kevin yelled back. "I just picture what I want the ride to do and...and...boom! It does it."

"This...this is some sort of trick, right? You're just joking around, right?" Reggie asked, with a touch of fear in his voice.

"Do I look like I'm laughing?!" Kevin roared, making Reggie jump back a step.

"Easy, Kevin, easy," Josef responded. "We're all just trying to make sense of all this."

"Make _sense_ of this?" Reggie replied. "We've been time-warped, you're saying you've taken a dive in the fountain of youth, and now he's using the Force, and you're looking for a logical explanation?!"

"Yes, and believe it or not, it does make sense in a way," Josef said.

"What?" Kevin and Reggie said in unison.

"Look," Josef said, then he paused as he tried to get his thoughts in order. "Kevin, you told me yourself you felt like this was the one place you felt you truly belonged."

"Well, yeah," Kevin with a shrug.

"Lame," Reggie added sarcastically. Kevin and Josef ignored him.

"And when Diana and her friends were taken to the Realm, you had a reaction. An almost violent reaction, correct?" Josef asked.

Kevin simply nodded.

"And this park is an exact replica of Loonyland, which came into existence as you arrived. Don't you see?" Josef asked.

Kevin shook his head weakly. Reggie just snickered.

"This connection to the park...what if it's more than just an emotional attachment? What if there is some bond between you and the park?"

"Okay, that's just freakin' nuts!!" Reggie exclaimed.

"Why shouldn't you be able to control the rides if you created all of this?" Josef asked.

"But why? I was trying to find Diana and Hank and all them. Why do this? Why give me a Loonyland with no one around in the dead of night? Is this some sort of sick joke?"

"I'm not sure about it, but maybe..."

"You think I like a Loonyland that's all dark with no one around?" Kevin asked angrily. "This park is dead. Dead!"

At that very instance, every light imaginable within sight of the trio popped on. The Merry Go Round, which had sat motionless, began to spin with its music blaring at full volume. Every light of every booth of the fairway shined bright, illuminating the signs and the counters that dotted the strip. Automatic canned music started to sing and whistle across Loonyland as the park came to life. Recorded voices repeated themselves over with phrases like "Step right up, test your strength!" and "All riders take your marks!" The electrically-controlled steel curtains that closed up all the games of skill on the fairway began to open, revealing all the colorful prizes and stuffed animals hidden inside.

Kevin and the group could see all the rides starting to run by themselves. About fifty yards away, the Caterpillar began to roll and the antique cars on the Old Time Motorway track nearby started to go around their designated track by themselves. In the distance, the Octopus could be seen moving and the cars of the roller coaster started to be pulled up the first big incline. Loonyland's ferris wheel began to turn and the lights of Fantasy Land glowed across Loony Lake.

"Aaaaaa!!" yelled a panic stricken Reggie as he hurriedly glanced all around at the park which had suddenly sprung to life.

Josef also was startled, but instead of being awestruck by the park's sudden awakening, he instinctively turned his attention to Kevin. He saw the teenager staring wide-eyed out into space, as if transfixed by some terror in the distance. Kevin's hands were balled into fists and his jaw was clenched. Kevin's breathing became forced, as he hissed through his gritted teeth.

"Kevin! _Mein Gott_, Kevin!" Josef yelled. He then ran over to Kevin and grabbed him by the shoulders, but as he stood in front of him and looked into Kevin's eyes, the teen stared blankly at him like he wasn't even there. Then, to Josef's horror, a small stream of blood started to dribble out of Kevin's nose. "Oh no! Kevin! Snap out of it, son!" demanded Josef to Kevin's face

"Stop it! Stop it! STOP IT!" Reggie yelled into the night sky.

Josef shook Kevin violently by the shoulders. "Kevin!" Josef gave a final yell.

All of a sudden, as quickly as the park had sprung to life, all the lights and all the sounds and all the rides of Loonyland went dead. Once again, the park was lit only by moonlight overhead. The rides quickly began to slow themselves to a halt, with the exception of the empty roller coaster called "The High Roller", which had made it up its initial incline and was making its full run around the coaster tracks.

Kevin swooned, and would have fallen to the ground if Josef had not been there, holding him by the shoulders. His eyes became glazed and lost, like being woken from a deep sleep.

"Kevin, are you alright?" Josef asked.

"Uhhgguuu..."Kevin mumbled.

"Kevin!" Josef shouted as he gave Kevin's shoulders another shake.

Finally, Kevin began to come around and focus his eyes on Josef. The teen shuddered, as if trying to shake himself out of a trance.

"Aaa! AAAAA!! Ohmygod!" Kevin yelled. "What...what happened?"

"The park. The _whole_ park turned on," Josef said.

Kevin gave Josef a double-take, shaking his head in confusion at what Josef had just said.

"The whole park...what..? It did what?" Kevin said. "I saw...lights! Lights all around me! And sounds!"

"Exactly! All the park started up!" Josef explained.

"No! I mean...that's not it," Kevin said. "The lights were...me? The rides! It was like I was on them! No, more than that! I was...with them...and...and..."

"Now Kevin, take it easy," Josef said.

"I'm...I'm gonna be...!" Kevin blurted.

Kevin dashed to a nearby trash bin and vomited into the can.

"Ohhhhh, dear," Josef said.

Reggie, standing quite a few paces back from the two of them, said nothing.

After a few minutes, Kevin's nausea had passed and he ended up sitting on a park bench again, with Josef standing over him and Reggie standing off to the side.

"I don't know how to describe it," Kevin said. "It's like all these sights and sounds all hit me at once. Sights and sounds from here. From the park."

Josef simply nodded.

"I mean, I wasn't even in my own body!" Kevin continued. "I was...I felt like I was everywhere. It was like a whirlwind."

"I would imagine so," Josef said with a slight chuckle.

"And you said every light in the ride turned on?" Kevin asked with a doubting look.

"As far as I could see. Every light. Every ride. Anything that could turn on...did," Josef answered.

As if to drive the point home, Kevin heard the metal clang of the High Roller coaster cars finally finish their run around the tracks and stop at the seating station.

Kevin couldn't help but let out an amused sigh. He then looked over at Reggie.

"Is that what happened?" Kevin asked Reggie.

Kevin was taken aback by Reggie's reaction to the question. He saw Reggie swallow hard and clench his jaw. Reggie's eyes flared up in anger.

"You!" Reggie blurted out as he pointed at Kevin accusingly. "You stay the hell away from me!"

"Hey. What?" Kevin responded to his friend's sudden outburst.

"Just...just..." Reggie sputtered as he walked backward away from them. "I don't know what you're doing, but I don't want any part of it!"

Kevin got up off the bench as Reggie turned to leave toward the entrance of the park.

"Reggie, c'mon!" Kevin pleaded. "I didn't mean any of this to happen!"

Reggie then turned to face Kevin and Josef with anger still etched across his face.

"You knew something was going to happen! That was why you hopped in line! This is all your fault!" Reggie shouted.

"Hey! Wait a minute! I was gonna go on alone until you invited yourself along!" Kevin responded. "I never asked for you to come along!"

"Yeah? Well, this is too much, okay?" Reggie said. Kevin thought he heard Reggie's voice crack a bit through his anger, like he was trying to hold back his fear.

"Now, I'm sure if we just remain calm everything is going..." Josef said in a calming tone.

"No! Don't tell me to calm down!" Reggie shouted. "I wanna get out of this park and go home! And the longer I stand here the better the chance something else weird is gonna happen! So, both of you can kiss my ass!" With a sarcastic salute toward Kevin and Josef, Reggie turned and walked toward the Loonyland gate.

"Wait...Redge..." Kevin stuttered.

"Look!" Reggie barked as he turned toward them suddenly. He then just spread his arms and flashed his palms toward Kevin and Josef in a surrendering gesture. "I'm done...all right? This...all this is...I'm done," Reggie uttered with his voice cracking even more. Kevin could almost sense Reggie was a few seconds away from tears. Reggie then turned and walked toward the park's entrance again.

"Reggie, you can't get out that way!" Kevin yelled.

"I'm done listening to you," Reggie said flatly, not looking back. "Just stay away from me."

"I mean this...isn't...Loonyland!" Kevin shouted as he walked toward his friend.

Reggie turned back again, though he continued to walk backwards toward the gate.

"I said stay away from me, Kevin! You too, whoever you are!" Reggie shouted as he pointed at Josef.

Kevin and Josef stopped walking. Kevin frustratingly shrugged his shoulders and looked at Josef in disappointment. Josef simply shook his head.

"He can't get out. I mean, not that way," Kevin said to Josef.

"I know. Let him cool off for a minute," Josef said. "He's just starting to process what's happening."

"I shouldn't open the gate, should I? I could. I can...I think," Kevin said.

"I don't think its a good idea."

"I mean, I just have to kind of think about it and...I dunno...push. In my head," Kevin said as he pointed to his temple.

"And go where, Kevin?" Josef asked. "I told you, this place...that fog is all this place is. I'm not even sure you could describe it as a place at all."

"I can control the gate...I know it. The gate, the rides..." Kevin's eyes lit up as a thought just dawned on him. "The ride! The Dungeons and Dragons ride! I can get it going, right?"

"It's worth a try," Josef answered. A knowing smile came across his lips as he looked at Kevin proudly.

"Yeah. Yeah! I mean, it's worth a shot, right? I can get us back!"

"Yes, well, both of you, anyway," Josef said.

"What do you mean by...?" Kevin stopped himself. "Oh, right. You didn't come that way. You're...something else." He looked at Josef sympathetically.

"Let's worry about that mystery when the time comes," Josef said. "Go talk to your friend. Get him back here."

"Right," Kevin said. "I'm sure once we explain..."

Kevin suddenly stopped talking and quickly inhaled a quick breath as he felt an almost indescribable rush of energy envelop his body. Once again, his body tensed up and his eyes went wide, peering out toward the direction of Fantasy Land.

"Kevin?!" Josef shouted as he instinctively looked around for any signs of activity with anything involving the park, but the rides were as still as ever, and all the lights were still dark. "Kevin, what's happening?"

Kevin couldn't respond. To Kevin's ears, Josef's voice seemed to be miles away. The teen felt as if what he could see and hear and feel were being pulled by some strange force down a long tunnel toward the Loonyland midway, past the Lazer Tag Arena, and finally across the Loony Lake Bridge. To Kevin, it was very similar to when he talked to "Loony" back by the lake a few hours ago. How Loony asked him to close his eyes and let his mind wander, only to have his mind's eye being drawn to Diana and her friends standing in the middle of Loony Lake. Only this time the "pull" was much stronger; a pull that could not be denied. A pull that led to one place.

The Dungeons and Dragons ride.

For the briefest moment, Kevin's strangely warped senses witnessed the eyes of the ride's dragonhead flare to life and he heard a thunderous roar escape its large maw. Then, a split second later, Kevin's new, strange view of the park was torn away from his senses and he felt back to his normal self, with Josef shaking him by the shoulders again. Once again, Kevin focused his eyes on Josef as he came to, though he didn't feel as sick as he had before.

"Kevin! You had an attack again. What happened?" Josef asked desperately.

Kevin simply stared at Josef in astonishment for a few seconds, and Josef could see the slightest smile cross Kevin's lips. Then, without warning, Kevin turned toward the fairway and started to run fast toward Fantasy Land.

"Kevin! Where are you going?" Josef shouted to the sprinting teen.

"Something's happening! Something's happening at the ride!" Kevin yelled back, moving as fast as his legs could take him.

* * *

__

They were six youngsters, pure of heart, who moments ago had their stairway crumble underneath them. Terror gripped their hearts as they envisioned falling into the darkness between the worlds. Only, to their infinite relief, they found themselves delivered into a bright red vehicle, speeding through the infinite.

"It's our roller coaster car!" Hank yelled in amazement.

"It's not a trap!" Diana cheered joyfully. "We're on our way out!"

The youngsters gripped onto their handlebars tightly as the darkness transformed into a brilliant blue vortex. They could barely contain their excitement as the red coaster car entered the churning dimensional portal.

At long last, their deliverance was at hand.

* * *

Reggie heard Kevin work himself into a commotion about something or other as he walked away, but he ignored it. He needed out. Out of this weird place as soon as possible, and nothing else mattered.

Away from Kevin and Josef, the gruff and disinterested facade Reggie used to hide his emotions slipped away as he walked toward the Loonyland gate. His eyes were wide and sad, looking lost and desperate, and all of a sudden his breathing became rushed and heavy. Alone with his thoughts, the gravity and the extreme insanity of what he had seen and experienced finally started to weight on him all at once.

"Magic," Reggie tried to utter dismissively, but his voice betrayed his feelings and it came out a whimper.

As he walked toward the gate, he saw the steel curtain was still down. At first, Reggie thought maybe Kevin and his new tricks could open the gate, but Reggie shook his head in anger, getting the thought out of his head. He didn't want to have anything to do with Kevin at the moment. He would just have to find another way out.

He dismissed climbing over the wall near the gate out of hand. It was too tall, no place to grab, and Reggie believed even if he managed to work his way to the roof of one of the nearby buildings - the administrative and medical offices to the right, and the park security offices on the left - they were built just far away enough from the walls to make things difficult. Reggie knew there were easier ways.

Walking around the medical station, Reggie walked parallel to the wall separating Loonyland from the parking lot. It was painted with a mural of a giant picture of Loony with a scene of Loonyland in the background. Loony's face looked manic and happy with the phrase "Oooooooowalawalawala" painted in a word balloon in bright rainbow pattern letters. Reggie sneered as he walked by; the happy painting seemed to mock him and his mood.

On he walked, with only the sound of his shuffling feet on the ground to disturb the still silence. Reggie passed by the food court, the shooting gallery, and the little kids' minicoaster ride. Then, hidden by clusters of trees and shrubbery, the border of park turned 90 degrees right and switched from a 15 foot wall of stone to a 10 foot tall cyclone fence lines of barbed wire laced on top.

And then Reggie saw the fog again.

Reggie couldn't see the stretch of homes along the road running parallel to the fence. He couldn't see the local McDonalds, or the nearby ice cream parlor. He couldn't even see the road itself. All Reggie could see was a ten-foot stretch of grass and dirt between the fence and the almost solid wall of hazy grey. To Reggie's eyes it seemed to take up the world, filling his whole field of vision. And once more, the fog itself gave off a ghostly illumination, bathing the surrounding area in an eerie soft light.

Reggie swallowed the lump in his throat.

He looked back at the park reluctantly. He looked to the sky, and tried to make sense of how the fog seemed to merge with the night sky of Loonyland. How the very nature of light and dark seemed to change between the fog and the night. Even the illuminating glow of the fog itself couldn't change the appearance of the dark moonglow of the park. It wasn't so much the appearance of night in Loonyland as it was an absence of light -- dark overcoming light. The night was part of what the park was, as much as the rides, the food stands, and the trees.

Reggie stood there, looking back and forth between the park and the vast expanse of the fog. Finally, his posture straightened up as he came to a decision. He turned to the fence and walked along it, looking up at the lines of barbed wire strung on top. He stopped at a stretch of fence near a thick patch of hedges reaching up to Reggie's waist. For some reason there were only two strings of barbed wire instead of four. Reggie started to climb, quickly reaching the top, then paused to work his way over the barbed wire, grabbing between the barbs.

However, just as he was preparing to give the final hop over the fence, one of the barbs snagged the bottom of his pant leg. He stopped to untangle it, and the barbed wire snapped back off Reggie's leg and stabbed his right hand. The barb quickly dug into his palm.

"Ow!" Reggie yelped. He pulled his hand away instinctively and his body tensed up. As a result, his left foot slipped, causing Reggie to tumble off the fence and fall onto the hedges below. Reggie plopped off the hedges on the side opposite the fence and landed on his back, laying on the cut grass.

"Arrrrrrrr!!" Reggie yelled in a mixture of pain and anger. Reggie lay there on the grass, letting the pain and embarrassment subside. He frowned as he looked up at the sky, with its melding of strangely glowing fog and star filled night. He scowled, as he noted this accident to being another example of how this day was going.

Just then, he heard a clatter coming from outside the fence. Turning his head slowly to look through the branches of the nearby bush, he saw two shapes materialize through the fog. For a brief moment, he thought of greeting them, and shifted his weight to get to his feet. But then, as the two figures stepped out of the fog, Reggie felt his blood turn cold.

They were like something out of a nightmare. They were shaped like people, but they were anything but human. They were tall and skinny, with their bodies covered in plates of armor, each plate decoratively shaped into harsh curves and organic patterns, and speckled with shiny gems and stones. Their faces were long and gaunt, with inhumanly pale and leathery skin, and noses that were indented and turned upward. Their straight black hair seemed to erupt from their head, only to be tied into an elaborate ponytail tied with shiny braids. They each carried long battle-worn scimitars with them.

But for Reggie it was their eyes that gripped his heart most of all. Pupil-less, black, angry eyes.

Reggie lay there, frozen in shock and fear at what he was seeing. The two figures walked up to the fence cautiously, and one of them took its scimitar and scraped its tip along the links of the fence, ringing the area with the chime of metal on metal. The creature made a noise that sounded to Reggie like a revolted hiss. For a brief second, Reggie thought he would make a break for it, but then stayed put as he saw the two creatures pause and start talking to each other in a language that hummed and growled like an overloaded fuse box.

Suddenly, Reggie heard a sudden _boom! _that made his heart skip a beat. At first, he thought the strange creatures were pulling something, but the two of them chatted away hurriedly like they were surprised too. Reggie then realized the sound had come from the direction of Fantasy Land.

Hidden by the hedge, Reggie lay still just a few feet away while the two creatures stood by the fence surveying the scene, seemingly more interested in the goings on of Loonyland than anything near them. Reggie was sweating profusely as he felt his heart pound in his chest; afraid to move, to breathe, to do anything that would attract their attention.

Then, in the distance, barely visible from where Reggie lay, the Loonyland ferris wheel exploded.


	12. Outside the Box

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter 12- Outside the Box**

Across the lake, Kevin could see the Dungeons and Dragons ride sitting silently under the moonlight. What he_ felt _was another matter. Though it wasn't as intense as it had began, he could still feel the "pull" of the ride , cutting through his expanded senses and drawing him in. His body moist in sweat and his head pounding, Kevin stopped running to rest at the fence surrounding Loony Lake. Seconds later, Josef caught up with the teen, and took a moment to catch his breath.

"What has gotten into you?" Josef asked.

"Josef...this is so weird," Kevin responded. "Its like...ESP or something. I can just feel what's going on in the park, y'know? I can't explain it."

"Are you all right? You look awful," Josef said.

"Yeah, just dizzy. It's not as intense as a minute ago. But, it's still there. Like a magnet in my head, pointing that way." Kevin gestured toward the Dungeons and Dragons ride across the pond.

Josef look toward the D-n-D. "The ride? What about it? Do you..._feel_ something?"

"Yeah, I do. But it isn't _doing_ anything," Kevin announced. "Why is this happening to me?"

"I'm not sure," Josef stated. "You took the ride just like Diana and her friends did, but instead of going to this "Realm," you ended up creating this strange parallel amusement park."

"I didn't do anything! This thing is the one that's..." Kevin barked as he waved the scroll.

"Kevin, remember what happened back in the real park? You were feeling some strange connection to the ride there too. It's all you," Josef said.

"'_It's all you_.' You sound like..." Kevin bit his lip, wondering if he should mention to Josef the conversation he had with the Loonyland mascot. He thought better of it. Things were strange enough as it is, Kevin thought. "I always did feel more comfortable with myself coming here...I mean to Loonyland. Always did, since I was a little kid."

Josef simply nodded.

"So, what do I do now?" Kevin asked.

"I don't know, Kevin," Josef said.

"And what about you? And what about Diana and Hank and the rest of them?" Kevin rambled.

Josef shrugged.

"And why is that stupid ride giving me a buzz again?" Kevin asked, gesturing toward the 'D-n-D' across the water.

"Maybe this is a sign for you to go back," Josef suggested. "Back to the real park, I mean."

"Really? You think so?"

"Anything is possible. Perhaps we should go get Reggie and try it," Josef suggested.

"Reggie? Reggie!" Kevin said in surprise. "Ohmygosh, we just left him!"

"Right. Let's go get..."

"Eeyyaaaa..!" Kevin blurted suddenly. The strange sixth sense, which pointed Kevin toward the Dungeons and Dragons ride, all of a sudden grew in intensity.

"Kevin, what's wrong?" Josef asked.

Kevin rested on the fence that surrounded Loony Lake as he stared blankly at the ride. His senses enveloped him. "The ride. The ride is...doing something. Something's coming. Something...bad."

Josef turned his head and studied the ride for a moment. "Really? I don't see any..."

Suddenly, from across the lake, Josef heard a deep low animal roar as, for a split second, the eyes on the dragon head of the Dungeons and Dragons ride flashed to life. Josef looked at the ride dumbfounded as they heard a familiar metallic _clackity-clack_. Immediately they knew what it was.

"_Mein Gott_," Josef whispered breathlessly. A look of surprise and wonder leaped across his face as he saw a roller coaster car roll down the exit track of the Dungeons and Dragons ride. Much to his unabashed delight, Josef made no mistake at identifying the six oddly dressed passengers who were _riding _the car.

"It's them! Diana...Presto...all of them! Kevin..."

Just then, Kevin felt a great nausea as a sickly black presence overcame his senses. His skin felt like it was frozen and on fire at the same time. His ears filled with screams of pain, like a pack of angry cats. He glanced at Josef with a look of complete shock and horror. "No...something _else_," Kevin cursed, then lurched forward and fell to the ground.

* * *

"If this is a dream, don't wake me up!" Presto exclaimed as the roller coaster car slowed to a stop on the tracks.

Sitting next to him, Sheila held her hands over her face. "I can't look!" said the red-headed teen.

Bobby reached over Presto in their back seat to pull her hands away. "Sure you can!" the ten-year-old said happily.

Sheila's eyes looked upon the dark amusement park , and an expression of relief and joy bloomed on her face.

The group spontaneously leaped off the coaster car and hopped onto the ride's loading platform, dancing and yelling in celebration.

"We're home!" Eric yelled, his Cavalier armor clanking as he danced.

"I can't believe we made it!" Hank bellowed as he held his magical bow aloft.

"Thank you, Zandora!' Sheila added.

"Thank you, Dungeon Master!" Presto cheered.

"We love you! We made it!" Diana happily proclaimed.

Suddenly, a ball of arcane energy flew from the exit tunnel of the Dungeons and Dragons ride and over the young group's heads. Hitting a dividing wall of the loading platform, the ball exploded, sending chunks of decorative masonry down on the celebrating youngsters. The young ones instinctively turned toward the ride's exit tunnel.

Out of tunnel, riding a snorting horse of pitch black with unearthly, burning red eyes, came a nightmarish vision of a man pale as the moon, dressed in red and black robes. From his back spanned two large batlike wings.

* * *

"It's Venger!" Josef yelped in utter shock.

"Aaagck!" Kevin gagged as he let go of the fence and fell to the ground in a fetal position, still gritting his teeth in pain. He couldn't focus his eyes, and his ears were still filled with indecipherable screeching. His midsection felt like he had been stabbed in the belly with a hot poker, and his skin felt like it was covered in ants. And all the while, through the pain and agony, Kevin's senses were still "pulled" toward the ride. Though they were clear across Loony Lake, Kevin could hear Diana and her friends as though they were standing two feet away. He could see their panicked faces and hear their quickly shuffling footsteps on the platform.

"Kevin! Look at me, Kevin! I'm right here!" Josef shouted as he knelt down and tried to look into Kevin's darting and confused eyes.

Suddenly, Josef's attention was drawn to across the lake as another ball of magical energy erupted from Venger's hands and streaked toward the newly arrived young ones. With trained alertness, all of them ducked out of the way of the magical fire as it whizzed by them and exploded on the far side of the platform.

"We...we have to do something," Josef said meekly. Josef looked back and forth between Kevin on the ground and the youngsters across the lake, trying to decide who he should help and feeling utterly lost.

"Uhhhh...stop it...stop..." Kevin stuttered as he stared blankly with bulging eyes as he lay on the cold cement.

Through the chaos of his own senses, Kevin could make out Eric talking about calling the cops. For the briefest moment, Kevin found Eric's statements a little humorous; struck by the irony of Eric trying to call for a bit of 'real world' sanity to be added to a situation Kevin knew for a fact was completely insane. Though still in pain, Kevin let out a hint of a chuckle.

And for that moment, Kevin's pain seemed to subside a little.

Kevin thought back to the conversation he had with the 'mascot' Loony hours before, though why he would think of it he couldn't say:

"_Y'know, did you ever think maybe your life would be a lot easier if you just stopped asking questions and just go with the flow?"_

Kevin could almost hear the words in his head as they were first spoken.

_"I told ya...you should relax, ride it out. You'll feel better." _

Kevin closed his eyes and tried to relax as much as his out of control senses would allow. Instead of trying to fight and make sense of the chaos running through him, he opened himself up to it. He simply let his senses guide him to wherever they may lead. Much to his pleasant surprise, Kevin continued to feel less pain than before.

Josef noticed Kevin's eyes had shut and he had stopped squirming on the ground.

"Kevin? Stay with me, Kevin!" Josef shouted.

"'_It's all you_,'" Kevin said calmly.

"Me? What do you..." Josef was interrupted by the flash and sound of Venger's magical energy bursting apart the telephone booth near the ride. Eric was left standing in the middle of the booth's wreckage comically holding the phone's receiver in his hand.

"GIVE ME YOUR WEAPONS AND I WILL LEAVE YOU IN PEACE!" Venger roared with a deep menacing, supernatural voice that echoed across the lake. "RESIST ME...AND YOU SHALL BE DESTROYED!"

The loud, haunting voice reverberated through Kevin's mind, as if it was a violation to Kevin's senses. Kevin gritted his teeth at the sound of it. Somehow, Kevin could almost sense the old and dark power behind such a voice, and it terrified him. Still, Kevin's pain was getting less and less as he gave way to the "pull" of his senses across Loony Lake to the events on the other side. The sights and sounds of the park washed over him, where the only pain Kevin could feel was being caused by this new arrival named Venger.

"Kevin, I...I have to do something!" Josef said. "I can't just leave them alone again!"

Josef looked up across Loony Lake to see Bobby smacking the ground with a small wooden club. Josef let in a breath expecting to see the club's magical power come forth in a massive groundquake. But, much to Josef surprise, nothing happened.

"FOOLS! YOUR WEAPONS HAVE NO POWER IN THIS WORLD!" Venger proclaimed.

Suddenly, Venger's horse stood high on its hind legs as Venger released a powerful blast of energy from his right hand that streaked across Fantasy Land and struck Loonyland's giant ferris wheel. With a loud BOOM! the magical missile shattered the center spoke of the wheel. The ride quickly teetered and fell on its side with a large crash. Then, Venger released another bolt of energy at a nearby hotdog stand. Instantly, the stand exploded into a pile of rubble in a violent flash.

And each time the energy bolts struck home, Kevin let out a yelp of pain.

"He's playing with them," Josef observed. "He could kill them at any time."

"I know," Kevin said weakly as he looked across Loony Lake.

"I have to get over and help somehow before it's too late!" Josef said as he started to run toward Loony Lake Bridge.

"_Wait_," Kevin blurted with pain as he tried to sit up from the cement.

Conducting a symphony of chaos, Venger continued to release energy blasts on the surrounding structures of Loonyland. One streak tore a large hole in the structure of the roller coaster, another blasted the nearby performance stage bleachers to a pile of shattered planks in an instant.

And Kevin could feel it all. Every strike felt like a red hot stab in his chest. Still, with great effort that surprised even Kevin, he focused on his concern for Diana and her friends...the ones he had come to help.

* * *

"There's only one thing to do," Hank said sternly. "We led Venger here. We'll have to lead him back!"

"Are you nuts?!" Eric yelled back at Hank, "I wouldn't go back to that crazy place for a million bucks!"

"Have it your way, Eric," Hank said sternly. "I'm going...with or without you."

* * *

"I can do this," Kevin whispered.

Clutching the Scroll in his hand, Kevin looked across Loony Lake, eyes burning with intensity. Gritting his teeth through the pain that Venger's arcane energies were strangely inflicting on him, he focused on the Dungeons and Dragons ride, sitting quiet and lifeless.

"Go," Kevin grunted.

Suddenly, the ride's inner workings started to hum. The chain that pulled the coaster car into the dragon's giant mouth started to move and _clitterty-clack_ down the track. The eyes of the dragon's head flared to life.

* * *

Hank paused briefly at the controls of the Dungeons and Dragons ride, surprised and quite relieved that everything seemed to be working. The chain of the ride was running in front of the coaster, while the lights on the control panel were all lit up. He then made a quick scan and saw a large green button marked "Coaster-Unlock".

"I hope this works," Hank said quietly as he pushed the button.

As soon as Hank sat in the coaster, Diana, Presto, Bobby and Sheila all ran and hopped into the car. Hank looked at his friends' faces as they settled into their seats. He gave a look of surprise and dismay. He opened his mouth to say something, but Diana stopped him with a stern look. Hank let out a sigh and showed a touched smile as he reached up and brought down the coaster's gripbars down to start the coaster moving.

There were no words needed. They were all in this together.

* * *

"GIVE ME THAT SHIELD!" Josef heard from across the lake. He had a hard time keeping tabs on everything that was happening, with Venger wrecking the park, Kevin crying in pain**,** and Diana and her friends running around. Finally, he saw Eric quickly running from Venger and leaping onto the Dungeons and Dragons ride from the castle wall guardrail.

"They're going back!" Josef said.

"WHAT?" Venger's voice echoed as the coaster car rolling toward the mouth of the dragon head.

As the coaster car slipped into the dragon's mouth, Venger quickly followed it, disappearing from sight. Kevin gritted his teeth in hard effort as, in an act of will he could barely understand, he made the Dungeons and Dragons ride roar to life. For a few seconds, the eyes of the dragon head flashed to life and the ride itself let out a deep, menacing growl. Then all was quiet.

Kevin quickly collapsed onto the pavement, exhaling sharply as is body plopped onto the cement with a thud.

"Kevin!" Josef kneeled down to check on the teen.

"Yes?" Kevin said meekly staring up at Josef with spent and tired eyes.

"Are you all right?"

Kevin paused before he answered.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, for my next trick..." Kevin said as a huge smile bloomed across his face.

They both suddenly burst into laughter that echoed across the park.


	13. Realizations

**Zeitgeist**

**Chapter Thirteen: Realizations**

Reggie was almost too terrified to breathe as the two humanoid nightmares on the other side of the fence reacted to the noises and lights coming from the direction of Fantasy Land. They argued on intensely in their strange buzzing language, as they pointed in the direction of where the Ferris wheel used to be. Reggie couldn't even begin to guess what they were saying to each other exactly, but it seemed to him that one of the creatures seemed irritated at the fence, as he grabbed and shook it angrily. The other creature seemed a bit more collected, and was talking to its companion in a quieter, more even tone. Though there was no real way to know for sure, it almost seemed to Reggie that one of the creatures was trying to talk the other down from its fury.

Suddenly, to Reggie's horror, the angry creature pulled its large oddly shaped scimitar by its hilt, and with a growling hiss swung at the chain link fence. With one mighty swing, the sword cut through the steel fence like it was barely there, leaving a five foot diagonal cut in the chain links. Then, to make matters worse, the creature tried to make its way through the cut in the fence, only to have its partner grab it by the shoulders. They argued again, this time with both of them raising their voices. Somehow, the calmer one of the creatures managed to soothe the anger of its partner, and both of them stayed on the other side of the fence. Reggie breathed a quiet sigh of relief.

Reggie tried to remain quiet as a corpse behind the hedge, peering through the branches of the shrubbery to study the creatures exchange in small talk in a language sounding like a cross between a downed power line and a beehive. They seemed to fidget and pace as if impatiently waiting for something, terrifying Reggie every time they moved a few steps in the fear they would be able to see him somehow. Reggie thanked God he had fallen off the fence just right to keep out of sight, and that he had decided to change clothes. Reggie was wearing black jeans with an olive green T-shirt which didn't stand out from behind the shrubbery. If he was still wearing his outrageous red and blue colored Loonyland uniform, Reggie guessed, the creatures would have spotted him for sure.

Then, gradually, the two creatures started to walk down the length of the fence. Again, Reggie was petrified of them spotting him lying prone on the ground. He couldn't see the creatures through the shrubbery at the angle they were walking away, so he could only judge their distance by the clinks and clatters of their exotically shaped armor. Part of him wanted to raise his head over the hedge to see where they were, but was scared of them finally seeing him lying there. Even when they had walked far enough away where he couldn't hear anything at all, he found it hard to get over the fear to get a better look.

Finally, he raised himself up to look over the hedge to find the coast was clear, the creatures had either walked out of sight down the length of the fence, or had walked out and disappeared into the fog. Either way, Reggie wasn't going to waste the opportunity. Quickly getting to his feet, he ran about thirty yards from the fence and into a group of trees that sat between the kiddy roller coaster and a children's grandstand. Pausing to catch his breath, he leaned against a tree and looked back at the fence, only to have his blood turn cold again.

Reggie saw two more of them. And then another, and then two more. He could see more of these strange creatures materializing out of the fog and walking up to the fence. Every thirty yards or so, there were one or a pair the strange humanoids. From where Reggie hid, he could hear the low buzzing of them chatting away, while others would impatiently and angrily shake the fence.

Reggie was so scared he could hardly breathe. Like a trapped rat, he glanced all around for an escape route. It was very dark in the patch of trees he was hiding, and the shadows created by the moonlight bled over to the loading platform of the kiddy rollercoaster, so Reggie decided if he wanted to move, that's where he would have to go.

Reggie gulped as he started to slowly crawl on his belly, going from tree trunk to tree trunk, and always stopping whenever he heard one of the creatures make any type of noise. Every few seconds, they would tap the fence or spout out a buzzing snarl, and Reggie's heart would skip a beat thinking they had spotted him. The platform was only about thirty yards away, but to Reggie it seemed like a mile. Finally, with a last burst of desperate speed Reggie left the last tree trunk and wiggled behind the platform.

Out of sight from anyone at the fence, Reggie leaned up against the wooden platform and panted wildly, as if he had been holding his breath the whole time and his body was trying to catch up on oxygen. His eyes darted around wildly and his body was caked in cold sweat. His thoughts were going at a thousand miles per hour trying to make sense of the situation. He finally accepted he wasn't in the "real" Loonyland anymore, but only because he was convinced he might not even be on Earth anymore, which wasn't a comfort at all. Still, he knew the hard fact of if he wanted to get away and out of the park, he probably had to go out the way he came in. And that meant he had to find Kevin. The thought made Reggie scowl, considering he blamed Kevin for getting him in this situation with his...magic.

Magic. _Real_ magic. Not slight of hand or parlor tricks or special effects or optical illusions, but magic. The very idea made Reggie shudder. Magic was supernatural, and in Reggie's upbringing, he was taught supernatural fits into two categories: Holy and unholy. This Loonyland didn't strike Reggie as holy. The creatures outside the fence definitely didn't strike him as holy.

But Reggie saw no other choice as he made his way towards where he last left Kevin and Josef near Loony Square. Reggie carefully moved deeper into Loonyland, making sure to have some structure blocking the view between him and the creatures outside the fence, all the while sticking to the shadows and staying out of the moonlight.

Zigzagging from structure to structure, Reggie finally worked his way to Loony Square. He looked around for any sign of Kevin or Josef, but couldn't see anyone. He looked toward the direction of Fantasy Land, where the large Ferris wheel had fallen down and those large _booms_ came from, but everything was dark and still. Reggie didn't relish the idea of going in that direction. He was hoping Kevin and Josef were smart enough to try to get away from things that go _boom!_

Lost in his thoughts about what to do next, Reggie was alerted by an angry buzzing sound coming from the entryway of Loonyland. He couldn't see the entryway from where he was standing, so he crouched down and crept over to get a better look, using the information booth as cover from anybody looking in from the entrance. Peering over the booth counter, he saw a few more of the creatures shuffling behind the metal curtain at the Loonyland gate, though from the angle and the lighting and the creatures' constant movement, Reggie couldn't tell exactly how many.

"My God, we're surrounded," Reggie whispered to himself.

Then, all of a sudden the group of creatures seemed to straighten up as if in a military fashion coming to attention. Coming into sight was one more creature, but from what Reggie could see, it looked somewhat different. It had the same lanky frame as the other creatures, same gaunt face, same spiky hairstyle. But his armor seemed bulkier and grander than the others. And its long hair had a hint of grey and was twisted into more decorative knots with countless shiny beads. At the gate, it observed the other creatures with an authoritative stroll. The other creatures fell silent as it barked in its strange buzzing language.

To Reggie, there was no doubt this was the guy in charge.

Suddenly, this creature produced a long sword from the scabbard hanging at his waste. Even from a distance, Reggie could see the sword shining with a magical silvery glow. Then, much to Reggie's concern, the creature swung the sword violently. Reggie saw a whiff of chalky powder fly from where the sword had been swung, and a second later, the head of the gate's Loony statue plopped almost comically onto the ground, spinning around and then settling at the creature's feet. All the creatures began to stir and vigorously buzz in their strange tongue.

Reggie couldn't be sure, but he had a hunch they were laughing.

"Oh, crap," Reggie whispered.

Thinking it would be better to get away from the gate, Reggie crept his way back away from the booth and around the corner out of Loony Square. He then started to quickly move toward the Caterpillar and down the Loonyland midway, terrified at the idea of one of those creatures popping out at any time around any corner. Reggie moved toward the direction of Fantasy Land hoping to find Kevin or Josef along the way, always trying to stay in the shadows and listening for any sound of the creatures' armor clanging nearby. At least he had the small comfort of their noisy armor making it hard for them to sneak up on him.

He came out of the midway area and worked his way toward Loony Lake. The area was more open and Reggie glanced back and forth looking for shadows to blend in to. He worked his way toward a ride called The Gambler, a rather boring ride designed like a casino-like Roulette wheel. He settled in the shadows next to the ride's control booth when he noticed all of a sudden the moonlight had weakened.

Reggie looked up at the sky at the moon and noticed it what was once a brightly lit full moon had become a dimmer half moon. Then, Reggie stood breathlessly as he saw the moon slowly creep darker from a half moon to a crescent moon, then to nothing. As Loonyland plunged into almost total blackness, Reggie leaned against the Gambler control booth, taking deep breaths and trying to get his mind around what he just saw.

"What else can happen?" Reggie asked.

As if on cue, Loonyland suddenly was bathed in moonlight again as the glowing disk appeared again in the Loonyland sky. Reggie jumped a bit at the sight of the park lit up again and didn't hide his irritation as he glanced up back at the sky, but he was taken aback again by what he saw.

The moon had moved. Instead of being more in the eastern sky, the moon was now all of a sudden lower and more in the west. Then, incredibly and much to Reggie's total amazement, the moon moved across the sky again; moving first up directly overhead, then to the eastern sky, then in a grand sweep back to the western sky, then east, then west, like some heavenly ping pong ball.

"Aa...aa...aa..." Reggie gasped at every grand movement of the moon across the sky. He kept blinking and looking back up. He still couldn't believe what his eyes were seeing.

It stopped for a moment directly overhead, giving a moment for Reggie to catch his breath and maybe deny to himself what he just saw.

Then, slowly, the glowing disk of the moon started to grow bigger and bigger, as if the moon was being pulled out of its orbit and towards Earth. In a few seconds, it was twice as big as it normal, then three times, then more.

"Ohmygod!" Reggie yelped as he fell back against the control booth and collapsed down to the ground. As the moon grew and grew, threatening to envelop all the night sky above Loonyland, he instinctively closed his eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next.

"Nooooo!" Reggie screamed.

Seconds had passed before Reggie gave a quick peak, only to see the moon back in the sky, though now it was directly overhead a like a noontime summer sun. When Reggie saw this, he meakly wiped the sweat off his face with his shirt sleeve and sat against the control booth waiting for his heart to stop pounding; trying to catch his breath, not wanting to move.

Not wanting to do anything.

* * *

Kevin and Josef stopped at the base of the rider platform of the Dungeons and Dragons ride after quickly trotting around Loony Lake to Fantasy Land. As Kevin sat on a nearby bench to rest, Josef impatiently inspected every corner and every shadow of the ride for any clue of the children or of anything left behind.

"What have I done?" Kevin asked the air quietly.

"Hmm?" Josef responded as he stopped inspecting and walked over to Kevin.

"I mean, it was the only thing I could think of at the time. I sent them back..." Kevin's voice had a self accusing tone to it.

"Kevin..."

"They were trying to get home and I sent them right back to where..."

"You saved their lives!" Josef barked back.

Kevin's posture straightened up a bit at Josef's observation. "I did?"

"For some reason, their weapons weren't working here. They wouldn't have stood a chance. You saved their lives. Our lives."

Kevin sat silently for a moment, then weakly shrugged. "It was just a gut reaction. I just felt they had to get away. As far away from that...thing as possible. I mean...brrruugghh!" Kevin comically shook his body all over while sticking out his tongue. "I could feel his evil...like a bunch of worms in my belly. I still feel...I dunno...violated."

"Violated. That is a good word for it." While talking to Kevin, Josef continued to look around the ride for any sign of life.

"Was that the guy you were telling me about? Was that the guy who kidnapped you from your time?" Kevin asked.

"Yes. That is Venger. An evil, powerful creature that was willing to change the very flow of time to wipe Diana and her friends out of existence.""

"Why? What for? They're just kids!"

"I'm not sure. Again, I wasn't in the Realm very long. They didn't tell me. They only described how they arrived there and showed what their magic weapons can do. They mentioned a person they called the Dungeon Master, but truth be told I couldn't make sense of what they were telling me."

"Huh. " Kevin replied.

"Then Venger kidnapped me and offered me the chance to change time. To change time to eliminate their very existence.""

"And he didn't say why?"

"I think he was some mad ruler and the children were somehow fighting back against him."

"Wow. And you said they had weapons? Weapons that can fight _that_?"

"Oh yes. Powerful weapons. Hank has a bow that could shoot bolts of lightening. The little one, Bobby, has a club that can create earthquakes. Diana had a magic javelin."

"I hope so," Kevin said. For a brief moment, Kevin was amused to think how easily he could accept such concepts as magical weapons after all he has experienced. But then he imagined what those weapons would be against. "I just...I just can't imagine anybody fighting that thing. His evilness just cut through me. You didn't feel that?"

"I think you felt what you felt because Venger was here...in this place. _Your_ place. This is your Loonyland."

Kevin shrugged as he held up the scroll and peered at it, as if to condemn it.

Kevin stood up in a determined posture. "We have to go help them." Kevin proclaimed.

"Yes." Josef said softly.

"I mean, I can do it. I think." Kevin said desperately. "I can get the ride going."

"Try it." Josef said excitedly. Kevin was taken aback by Josef's enthusiasm.

Kevin peered at the mouth of the Dungeons and Dragons ride, and swallowed hard. Never had the dragon face looked so menacing to him.

As his eyes narrowed in concentration, he tried to picture the ride moving. He imagined his mind as the on switch, just like he did with the Merry Go Round.

"Go." Kevin said softly.

Nothing happened.

Kevin huffed in frustration. "I don't get it. It's not letting me."

"Concentrate, Kevin. You can do it. Relax." Josef encouraged.

"Hmph." Kevin huffed. Still, he slumped and shook his shoulders to loosen himself up and took a deep breath. He then tried to think of the ride moving. He visioned the coaster car moving down the tracks, the coaster entering the mouth, the animated monsters coming to life, and finally the coaster moving into the darkness.

Still nothing.

Determined to see it through, he repeatedly turned his minds eye to getting the ride moving. He clutched the scroll tighter as he ran through the ride cycle over and over in his head. Then, much to Kevin's amazement, Kevin's visualizations of the ride started to focus as if on their own; almost as if he was actually riding the ride again. Kevin felt a familiar blood rush hit his head, but he was determined not to have it distract him. He gritted his teeth as he felt himself move past all the animatronics goblins and monsters and into the darkness for the ride's big finish.

Then, suddenly, Kevin's senses were overwhelmed as he his mind's eye was blinded by visions of bursting fire and his ears rang with the sound of a menacing animalistic roar which seemed to shake the whole world.

"Aaaaa!" Kevin screamed as he felt his mind snap back to reality. His body snapped back and he wobbled on his feet. Josef quickly grabbed Kevin to steady him.

"Kevin! Are you alright? You did it!"

"Uh...wha..What? I what?" Kevin asked groggily.

"The ride turned on! Just for a moment the eyes of the dragon flared up and the ride started to hum!"

"It did? It did?" Kevin asked as he rubbed his temples to get rid of his sudden headache.

"Are you alright? What happened?"

Kevin took some deep breaths to gather his thoughts. For a moment, he wondered with all these new sensations he has experienced if he could ever look at the world around him the same way again.

"Okay. I was like….it was …different…." Kevin stammered, still trying to find the words. "It wasn't like I was turning it on like the other rides. It was like I was on the ride riding it."

"I see."

And then I got to the end…the big finish at the end, and then….then…"

"Yes?"

"I just got hit by this roar! It was loud, like a bunch of animals screaming at once. But it wasn't just the sound, it was more than that. It was like I was feeling something. Fire…anger…._hunger_."

"Hmm. It looks like this ride has its own rules. Not that that's surprising. Being this the gateway between the Realm and your Loonyland."

"Oh, man. Will you stop that?" Kevin said irritably.

"What?"

"_My_ Loonyland. This isn't my Loonyland. This is this thing's Loonyland!" Kevin said angrily as he waved the scroll in front of Josef.

"I'm not blaming you if that's…"

"If this was my Loonyland, it would be a bright, shiny afternoon with people here. With kids running around, everyone having a good time. That's MY Loonyland. Why is it the dead of night, huh?"

"I'm….not sure, Kevin."

"And now this stupid thing isn't cooperating," Kevin gestured toward the Dungeons and Dragons ride. "How are we getting out of…?"

* * *

At that very moment, just outside the entrance gate of Loonyland, a tall, gaunt, armored figure angrily and defiantly swung his glowing silver sword and sliced the head off the welcoming statue of Loony.

* * *

Suddenly, Kevin felt a twinge. A tingling flashed through his body that was both small yet touched every part of his being, like the very air around him had spoke to him in a language only he could understand.

Kevin's view of his world changed.

Kevin stood silently for a few moments, with his darting eyes looking around. Josef could see Kevin pausing his gaze at particular objects for a time. Kevin peered at the Dungeons and Dragons ride, then a concession stand, then the splintered rubble of the Ferris wheel. Kevin gazed at the High Roller in the distance. To Josef, it was as if Kevin was seeing them for the first time.

"Kevin, what is it? What now?"

"Josef, I can't believe it."

"What?" Josef asked impatiently.

"I mean, I knew this wasn't Loonyland, but I had no idea…."

"Yes?"

Kevin paused to look up at the full moon glowing in the night sky. Again, to Josef, the look on Kevin's face came across as if he was seeing the moon for the first time. He thought Kevin looked almost comical, which for Josef made the situation only more tense.

"Kevin, what is going on with you?"

"Shhhhh…" Kevin hushed.

Josef looked at Kevin, then at the moon overhead, then at Kevin. He heard the paper rustle of the scroll being gripped tightly as Kevin closed his eyes.

Moments passed. Kevin's posture seemed more calm and relaxed, which only intrigued Josef even more.

Then, Kevin opened his eyes to look up at the sky, and simply whispered, "Wow."

"What?" Josef asked, trying to hide his impatience.

Then, Josef noticed everything in Loonyland become slightly dimmer in the moonlight. Instinctively, Josef looked up, and to his utter amazement, he saw that the moon overhead had turned from a full moon to a half moon.

"_Was_?" Josef blurted.

Then, to Josef's further astonishment, the moon became darker still as it crept from a half moon to a crescent moon to disappearing entirely, plunging the park into near complete darkness.

"Kevin, are you doing that?" Josef barked.

"Uh huh," Kevin said nonchalantly.

"_Mein __Gott_."

Kevin slowly turned his gaze to Josef, with a grin on his face that Josef found a bit disconcerting. Then, with his thumb and index finger, Kevin pointed his free hand "gun" at the western sky.

"Bang."

All of a sudden, the park was illuminated by the full glow of a full moon which had suddenly appeared in the exact part of the sky Kevin had pointed at.

Josef opened his mouth to say something, but his lips comically quivered like he couldn't find the words.

Still aiming his finger up at the moon, Kevin moved his hand, and like a giant celestial kite the moon moved to where Kevin was pointing. First, he pointed directly overhead, then to the eastern sky. On cue, the moon followed Kevin's direction precisely. Only stopping for a second, Kevin directed the moon across the sky back to the west, then he swept the moon back to the west, all the while with Josef looking agape at the dance being created in the heavens overhead.

Kevin conducted the moon from east to west several times. Each time he had the moon change directions, Kevin would make a "boop" sound, like the chime from a game of Pong.

"Your Loonyland…completely, utterly, _your_ Loonyland…." Josef stated.

Reacting to the statement, Kevin stopped his moon symphony with the moon directly overhead.

"It's mine," Kevin said. "All of it. Every bit of it."

Then, to almost signify the point he was making, Kevin pointed up at the moon again.

"But it's not real enough," Kevin proclaimed.

The moon suddenly began to grow and grow. First twice its size, then three times, then more. The entire park started to glow bright as the moon started to fill the night sky.

"Kevin!" Josef shouted. "What are you doing?"

Surprised by Josef's outburst, Kevin broke his concentration and the moon shrank back to its normal size, glowing in its full glory directly overhead.

"Sorry," Kevin said sheepishly. "Something just happened, and it all just came to me. You were right. More than I thought."

"That was spectacular! Maybe now we…"

"We have to leave."

"What?" Josef asked.

Kevin swallowed hard as his expression turned as serious and sullen as a funeral.

"We have to get out of here. We have to get Reggie and get out of here, _now_."

"But why?"

Kevin slowly turned his gaze toward the direction of the entrance of the park.

"We're not alone."


End file.
